One Month With You
by justforfum
Summary: Chung can't seem to find a lasting relationship and he doesn't know why. Eve offers to help pinpoint the problems as his temporary girlfriend for one month. A modern romance AU.
1. Chapter 1

"Good evening! Your usual seat, sir?" the bar's young, and rather pretty, cashier asked with a smile. The blond-haired patron simply nodded. The defeated, glazed look in his puppy-paw eyes, was enough of an indication that he was in the mood for drinking, not talking.

Picking up on this, quickly, the young woman bowed and ushered him into the bar: a dimly lit room with wooden floors and walls. Hanging plants and carved wooden railing functioned as a barrier separating the raised flooring that circled the lower tiled area with two sets of pool tables and a dart board. Booths and tables surrounded the central area with the majority of them lined along the far glass windows that overlooked a dense neon jungle, five-stories below. A beautiful, nearly unobstructed view of the city's bay was the bar's main attraction. The crescent shaped bay was only accentuated by the rising moon all while a pristine white support bridge lined with color changing lights brought life to the otherwise black horizon. To the left and right extremities stood Hamel and Altera's corporate buildings, respectively. The two rival corporations, only served to frame the picturesque view.

This was the "Hi, Life" bar, Chung's home away from home. Its location attracted both the busy corporate employee and well-informed tourist, but was still discreet enough to give the young man some time to reflect, even during its busiest nights.

Black velvet lounge chairs flanking a small table was hurriedly cleared by a busboy before he arrived. As he took off his coat and slid into his seat, a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

"Just soju, please," Chung said, sinking into the cushion to the point of nearly falling out of it.

"Yes, sir," the busboy replied with a bow and quickly left to grab a shot glass and bottle. He returned in less than a minute, laying out the glass and bottle and a small bowl of edible styrofoam for him to munch on while he stewed for the next hour or so.

Chung poured himself a shot and promptly downed it before pouring another and setting it on the table for later.

"Straight shots, tonight? I take it your date went well, Mr. Seiker?" The flat tone of an otherwise effeminate voice was like a punch to the gut for him.

So, she was here, too. Wonderful.

"If you're only here to mock me, Eve, at least let me settle in, first." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

Sitting at the adjacent table with her back slightly turned towards him was a young woman with long, silver hair. She wore a black business dress with a white blouse, ruffled from a long day of work at the office. Sharp, golden eyes observed him from over her shoulder. In her hand swirled a half-filled glass of Somaek.

He was hoping Eve wouldn't be here, tonight, of all nights. Though with his luck he would have been surprised if the daughter of Altera's CEO hadn't been there to relish in yet another defeat of Hamel's heir.

"I was genuinely worried, Mr. Seiker" Eve stated.

Chung laughed, "Worried that I'd find a romantic partner before you?"

Eve didn't laugh. Instead, she turned her head away with a slight upturned tilt of her nose, "Worried I might finish my drink before I'd have the chance to see you sulk."

Chung leaned forward, running his hands through his hair as he stared at the wooden flooring, his head bobbing up and down lazily as he mulled over the events earlier that evening. They both eyed each other with similar, expressionless sideways glances before Chung noted the slight knowing grin creeping into the corner of Eve's lips. He sighed, downed another shot, and kicked one leg over another as he stared off into the narrow concrete streets below.

"How'd it go?" Eve asked, turning towards him and leaning over her lounge chair.

"As good as the rest," Chung shrugged and shook his head, "I really… wanted this to work. She was cute, funny, a little ditzy… She just had this really innocent personality."

"I see," Eve replied in a rather passive, uninterested tone. She curled up in her seat, pulling her stockinged legs up to her chest as she took another sip of her cocktail. "So you're into innocent girls."

"I am not…! Well, actually, maybe I am. I'm into a variety of girls."

"Like that bookish girl-"

"She's dating my best friend, now."

"And that foreigner with the big breasts-"

"She's back in her home country…"

"And that blonde woman-"

"A closet nerd. I really thought I hit it off with her too since we shared so many interests-wait, why are you keeping tabs of my personal relationships, anyways?"

"Keeping a record of a competitor's faults and failures, is a common practice for business rivals. Knowing your enemy is half the battle, after all. You don't do the same?"

"I know you have ridiculous standards when it comes to dating."

"I have _specific_ standards," Eve corrected.

"Specifically high standards," Chung said with a roll of his eyes, "You still have to find a suitor or something to share the company with, don't you? Don't you have to do that… I don't know… soon?"

"Yes, well, as wonderful as my father is he is severely lacking in the ability to discern a good husband from a terrible one."

"Out of curiosity, who qualifies as a good husband, to you?"

Eve remained silent on that matter, opting to quietly sip on her cocktail, instead.

Chung waved it off, after a while, "At least you have people fighting for your hand in marriage, whereas I have to search for mine. No luck on that front." He downed another shot, all the while he could feel Eve's eyes on him.

"So what was the problem this time?" Eve asked turning the conversation back towards Chung. She finished her glass and poured herself another.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I would, actually."

"You won't tell me what you think makes a decent guy, and yet you expect me to just tell you about my personal love life? I may not be as good as you on the business end of things, but I know an unfair trade when I see one."

Eve snorted, rolling her eyes at that, "Okay, fine. Then I suppose I won't tell you about my preference, after all."

"So, then you _are_ going to tell me?" Chung asked, a small, interested glint in his eye.

"You, first," Eve pointed.

"Like I'd believe you'd tell me afterwards."

"When have I ever broken a deal?"

Chung eyed her suspiciously and she returned his gaze, though with significantly less expression than him. If she was good at anything it was her ability to hold a poker face. Though, now that he thought about it, Altera had always upheld their promises with Hamel; shady exploitation of loopholes notwithstanding.

The young man relented. "Fine."

He watched Eve shift in her seat, giving her full attention to him after pouring another shot of soju into her beer.

"So when the problems started happening... I'm not too sure, actually. To be honest, I was pretty nervous. I usually lock up when I get nervous so I tend to lose my ability to speak plainly. Though I've been getting better at it, I think. I learned to imagine my dates as if I were talking to a mirror."

"A mirror?"

"Yeah. It works. So I was just talking to her, getting to know her and stuff. She actually responded to my pick up lines pretty well."

"Pick up lines…?" Eve raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You know, phrases you use to break the ice-"

"I know what they are, Mr. Seiker."

"Okay, well, anyways, I was talking to her as usual when the topic went to her family she suddenly clammed up. I must have struck a nerve or something. It was like she suddenly changed into a different person."

"Uh huh."

* * *

One hour and two bottles of Soju later, Chung had regaled his rival with the shortcomings of his most recent love affair. Eve listened intently, to his surprise. He expected her to use this against him at some point once they've sobered up but at the moment, he didn't care and the alcohol had loosened his lips enough for him to indulge her in the more minute details of his night out.

At first, Eve didn't give any input at all, aside from her acknowledgement of events. As the hour passed, however, he began to notice a distinct change in the way Eve was addressing him. What started as curiosity, slowly devolved into one of confusion and, dare he say, pity.

She began asking more questions. First they were about his date. Ara was her name. Bu as the night progressed her questions were slowly turned towards him. She no longer judged them both but Chung, only. It was almost as if the problem didn't lay between him and his date… but rather, him, alone.

"After that, all conversations stopped. We separated after dinner. She didn't even say goodbye."

"Did you offer to walk her home?" Eve asked, she rocked slightly in her seat as she spoke.

"I… well, no."

"At least walk her to the subway or hail a taxi for her?"

"Was I supposed to?"

This time it was Eve's turn to sigh.

"I was nervous, okay?" Chung hiccupped, "The booklet doesn't exactly cover what happens in botched dates!"

"Booklet?" Eve turned to him once more, confused.

Chung, realizing what he just said, frantically began waving it off. But Eve was curious, now.

"What booklet?"

"I, uh, well, you know-" Chung stammered, sinking into his seat the more Eve leaned over hers, demanding an answer.

"What. Booklet."

She was scary. Scary enough to immediately force Chung to relinquish his little secret as he dug through his coat pocket. He extracted a small black soft-cover book and gingerly held it for Eve to see. She snatched it from his hand, reading over the silver printed title outloud.

"_How to court women._"

Chung could feel the venomous mix of disgust and incredulity in her voice. She opened the booklet, flipping to page after bookmarked page from useful pick up lines to steps on how to properly hold hands. She skipped towards the final segments, stopping at a folded chapter detailing what to do when things led to the bedroom. She shut the book. Her eyes turned back to the young man and he could feel them burning into his soul.

Her lips hung slightly open as she uttered a single word. "Why?"

"I-it's cus Aisha."

"_Who_?"

"Aisha. The bookish girl dating my best friend? She said I… needed work with how I respond to social cues. She said something like I should read a book."

"And you took it _literally_?"

"W-was I not supposed to?"

Eve sat back in her chair, rubbing her temples at the daftness of someone she saw as her business rival. Chung could feel the disappointment bearing down on him.

"Dating isn't my strong point. I get it. I need a little help. But that's what happens when you dedicate your life to one day filling the shoes of a CEO of a corporate juggernaut. I… uh… had to sacrifice a normal social life to study the art of trade."

"You think I don't know what it's like?" Eve scoffed. She rose from her lounge chair enough to shove the booklet back against Chung's chest. "I've been raised under similar circumstances, you know."

"Yes, but I'm… not as smart as you. I don't pick things up as quickly as you can."

"Well, Mr. Seiker, I can't say you're wrong," Eve agreed, nearly losing her balance as she resettled into her seat.

"That and you're… you're pretty cute, to boot."

Eve's brow furrowed at the comment and she snorted, turning her head away.

"You have the convenience of people coming to _you_ for marriage. I have to…" Chung gave up halfway through his sentence, feeling his point had already been made. Either that or it was the alcohol getting to him.

Eve didn't look too happy, either. She looked like she was scheming. He hated it when she schemed. He wondered what she was scheming. He had to drown her thoughts out. Drown them out with his own.

He stood, looking down at the silver-haired maiden who stared up at him as if waiting for some grand announcement.

"I'm going to the toilet," Chung said, loud enough for everyone to hear. With that, he wobbled his way to the restrooms.

He was able to sober up somewhat as he stared at the wall in front of the urinal. In his mind he was beating himself up on how stupid he must have been acting. He must have looked like a complete idiot when he told literally everyone in the bar that he had to go to the toilet.

If Eve was looking for anything else she could use to publicly humiliate him in front of a business meeting, he just gave her exactly what she was waiting for. She was probably gone by now. It would make sense, after all. Not many people would want to associate themselves with a drunk acquaintance after that shameful display.

He washed up, splashing cold water on his face and recollecting himself before going back out there. He had enough to drink for tonight and was ready to gather his coat and whatever was left of his dignity before leaving.

Stepping back into the bar, he found his silver-haired rival still sitting at her table, patiently waiting for him to return. Her face was still a bit flushed from the alcohol but otherwise she held a rather familiar, indignant air about her; it was a look she plastered on when she was going to make a rather forward business proposition-most likely at his expense.

"Thanks for waiting," Chung mumbled, collecting his things as well as his empty bottles to bring to the cashier.

"Mr. Seiker," Eve said, the slight slur in her voice almost completely absent as she spoke.

"Yes, Ms. Nasod?" Chung addressed her in a mocking tone , throwing the coat on and checking for his wallet and phone.

"Sit. I have something I want to discuss with you."

Chung sighed, looking around at the other patrons before shrugging at her, "Really?"

"Sit," Eve insisted, tapping the chair across from her.

The young man groaned and shuffled to the chair, sitting in front of the woman this time instead of behind her. "What?"

"That story you told me… that booklet of yours…" Eve put a hand over her mouth. Chung could see the edge of a smile she was failing to hide.

"Yeah, I made an ass of myself. I'm in the process of seeing myself out. No need to rub it in."

"No, no. That's not it, Mr. Seiker."

"What is it, then?"

"I want to help you."

"Help? With what?"

"You said you needed a little help in regards to your ineptitude with… _courting women_."

"Ugh…"

"I can give you advice."

"Please," Chung rolled his eyes, "It's not like I have a comprehensive list of questions to ask you. It's those niche moments that I think I need to work on."

"I think it's more than that. Which is why I'm proposing a more 'hands-on' method. If you'd allow me, I'd like a month to assess your strengths and weaknesses-to tell you what you're doing right and wrong. Maybe help you improve the way you interact with someone you are romantically interested in."

"What? A whole month?"

"I think that's a reasonable amount of time."

"So… you're going to shadow me whenever I go on a date or something? Unfortunately for you, I actually don't have anyone else I'm seeing at the moment."

"That works in my favor."

Chung chuckled. "What, do you have a prospect in mind?"

Eve nodded.

Now Chung was interested. "Who?"

Eve tilted her head at Chung before pointing at herself.

The young man blinked, staring straight into those golden eyes as if trying to search for any drunken sign that she was joking. She was really damned good at hiding it if she was.

"You're… serious? You want to date me?"

"I want to assess you," Eve corrected, "For this to work we will treat each other as if we were in a relationship together. I will periodically grade your performance and provide feedback on what you can improve on. I was thinking about a point system. Perhaps some rewards at certain tiers to motivate you. Hopefully by the end of this endeavor, you'd have learned a thing or two about how to… how did your booklet put it… 'court women'."

Chung continued to search her face for any sign of a prank. This had to be some twisted kind of joke. Yet he could find nothing. Other than genuine concern for his well-being, she appeared to hide nothing else.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"Because as competitors and future heirs to our family's businesses, I'm quite ashamed to think of you as my rival."

"Ouch. That hurts."

"Then prove me wrong. Show me you're an heir who knows what he's doing; that you're someone who doesn't take advice from cheap books."

She was being so mean. It cut especially deep coming from someone he honestly recognized as his superior. Yet at the same time… it motivated him.

"I think I can do that."

There was a rare, never before seen, glint in her eyes as he said that. She seemed… excited. Her? Miss Pokerface? Impossible.

"So you'll indulge me in my proposition?" Eve asked.

Chung shrugged "One month? Starting when?"

"Now."

"Wait… Now?!"

"Mhmm," Eve nodded, already punching in the date and setting an alarm for one month later. Chung glanced at his phone and was quickly added to the event Eve had created. The 28th of next month. Just after ten o' clock.

"Wait. Wait a minute. Hold on," Chung flailed, getting a curious tilt of the head from Eve, "We haven't even set any ground rules, yet. Like what we can and can't do."

"We are treating this like an actual relationship. Whatever rules you think are implied shall follow."

"That's stupidly vague," Chung grumbled, "Okay. But… I mean you're the daughter of Altera. I'm the son of Hamel. If the news caught wind of this… moreover our _fathers_…"

"We keep them out of the loop as well as all our other peers," Eve said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"See this is what I mean by setting ground rules," Chung muttered to himself. He watched as the young woman stood, gathering her things and putting her bottles together. She then turned to him, sliding her empty bottles with his.

"Pay for me, please?" Eve asked, straightening her hair.

Chung stared up at Eve in disbelief. She was actually being serious about all this. "You want me to pay for you?!"

Eve stopped what she was doing and stared back at him, a look of equal disbelief splayed across her face.

And then she said two words. Two that Chung felt he was going to grow very familiar with for the rest of the month:

"Minus points."

* * *

**A/N: This was was originally intended to be a quick request story made by Jeez from the Elsword Fanfiction Brigade. If youre interested in joing our discord ask me for the link! But yeah. originally intended. But the story took off in my head and i just feel like this is going to need maybe 3 other chapters to bring to an end. what do you think? Do you want to see more? Cover done by Elpheart! Check them out here: **** w elpheart/**


	2. Chapter 2

The last of the investors left the meeting room. Excited whispers of next year's upcoming products were exchanged as the door shut behind them. Standing at the end of the long business table was Hamel's father and son duo, their heads lowered in a bow until the door clicked shut in front of them.

They both breathed a sigh of relief as Helputt, a tall, imposing man whose frame barely fit in his grey business suit, turned to his son with an ecstatic grin splayed on his face. He patted the young man heavily on the shoulder before ruffling his hair.

"Well done, Chung. I think we got 'em, this year."

"Here's hoping," his son chuckled as he straightened his hair, "Most of them are attending Altera's presentation later this week, but I think we've definitely won over the majority of the investors."

"I wouldn't doubt it. Did you see that excited gleam in their eyes when you unveiled the new phone?"

"Yep."

"Only thing that would've made it better was if your phone wasn't going off during the unveiling," Helputt laughed. This carried on for only a moment. His laugh faded and he looked to his son more seriously, "I thought you set that thing on mute during presentations?"

"Ah, yeah. Sorry, father… I must have forgotten-" he fished out his business phone from his coat pocket and switched it on. Surprisingly, it was already on mute. That was strange, since he had no memory of touching the device during the entire meeting.

"Personal phone, maybe?" Helputt asked.

"No one ever contacts me other than you or Elsword on that phone… and he knows not to call me when I'm at work," Chung muttered. He extracted his personal device from his pants pocket and saw an unknown number on the display followed by two messages: "Hi." and "How are you?"

"Who is it?" the father asked, leaning on the table and crossing his arms.

"I don't… know the number. Maybe it's a telemarketer?"

The father snorted, "Typical. Damned fools always calling at the wrong time."

"They didn't call. They just left a message. Never seen spam like this before… And they're being very informal in their greetings. Maybe it's a wrong number?"

"Maybe it's a girl?" the father teased.

"Unlikely," Chung sighed.

"Bah! Chin up! You're a lady killer and I know it! I won't allow the heir of the family business to fall short on that end! Have some confidence, Chung! I say call it back!" Helputt suggested.

"You really want me to find someone, huh?"

Helputt's confident smile disappeared as a heavy, downtrodden sigh escaped his lips. "You work yourself to the bone for this company. And you never give yourself a chance to relax. I'm proud to have such a hard working son, but I don't ever want to see you suffer. I think finding someone can help you, in more ways than one. That's why I keep insisting you do. So don't take it the wrong way. I just want the best for a son that always does their best."

Chung couldn't help but smile at his father. Being the only living family he had, Chung's doting father was always headstrong when it came to taking care of his son. The least he could do was give the man his wish.

"Call the number, Chung," Helputt insisted.

The young man relented. "Yeah, sure." He hit the call back button and held the phone to his ear. A custom song played instead of a ring, indicating this was a private number more than anything. It was a pop song. 'My Dear Sweet', from a few years back, if he remembered correctly.

The song stopped as rustling could be heard followed by a female's voice. It wasn't a proper greeting but a very informal and very… intimate "Hey".

It was Eve.

He hung up.

"Yeah," Chung feigned an annoyed sigh as he tried to hide his surprise from his father, "It was just a telemarketer."

Helputt snorted, "Figures."

Chung's phone dinged upon receiving a message. He ignored it and faked a yawn. "Anyways, I'm heading back to my office. Good job, today, father."

"You, too, Chung. Excellent work, on your part."

The young man nodded before hurrying out of the room, clutching at his phone and making sure the door was shut behind him before he read it in the hallway.

"_Minus points."_ The message read.

"_What is it? You kind of messaged me at a bad time."_

"_Sorry."_

"_How did you get my number, anyways?"_

"_I was curious to see if you ever changed it since college. I'm happy to see you hadn't."_

College? He remembered briefly exchanging contact details during his first year with Eve among other students, but to think that she actually kept it…

"_So… is there a reason for contacting me?"_ Chung typed as he slipped into his office and locked the door.

"_I wanted to say hello."_

Chung stared at the message, confused as to what that actually meant. What was Altera's daughter up to?

"_Is… that all?"_

"_Minus points."_

"_You're really serious about this whole relationship thing, aren't you?"_

There was a long pause after he sent that message. He found time to sit at his desk and swivel his chair over to the window overlooking the cityscape before him. Altera Tower sat at the opposite end of the bay, dwarfing the other buildings surrounding it. His phone dinged again, and he looked at the message on display:

"_Minus points."_

The young man gripped his phone tightly as he tried to let his involvement with Eve sink in. She was "assessing" him. She wanted a month-long mock relationship so she can help him with his love life. Why a business rival was going out of their way to assist in his personal problems, he didn't know. But given his father pressing him to find a relationship and his failure thus far, who was he to deny the help?

He let out a long, drawn out sigh, mentally putting himself in the shoes of someone in a relationship with Eve. He imagined her staring at her phone, arms crossed, finger tapping, as she waited impatiently for a reply. What would someone under her control say to her?

"_How are you doing, dear?"_

Chung couldn't believe he sent that message. It felt so… unnatural-unwarranted. Definitely something he wouldn't have said to someone he was actually in a relationship with. Still. He imagined this would be something someone like Eve would expect from her partner.

There was a brief pause in reply as the message was clearly read yet Eve didn't say anything. Was it not good enough? Did she want something more? Perhaps mistress?

He snickered at the thought, but straightened when he saw her sending a reply.

"_I'm… alright. In a bit of pain, but otherwise, I'm fine. It was a long day. Are you free tonight?"_

In pain? What did that mean? Eve was the type to wear heels to work. That must be it. The fact that it was a long day must have meant she was on her feet all day. Just the thought of having to stand on those things was painful enough. She asked if he was free tonight and, according to the booklet on _How to Court Women_, that clearly meant she wanted to chat. And Chung knew the perfect place to take her to kick up her feet up and relax.

"_Yeah. I can set aside time if you wanna meet at the Hi, Life bar."_

Chung smiled proudly at his response. He fancied himself a very intuitive person. Being able to piece together this woman's wants and needs from a simple message should garner him some points. His phone dinged.

"_I don't want to go drinking today. I don't feel so good."_

He stared at the message. Was she sick?

"_Do you want to go to the clinic or something?"_

"_No…"_

"_Want me to take you home?"_

"_No."_

Good. He wouldn't have volunteered to do that, anyways. He didn't know what her father would think if the son of Hamel escorted their daughter home. He was out of ideas at this point.

"_What do you want to do, then?"_

"_Take me somewhere nice."_

Somewhere nice? The booklet stated women can be vague but _somewhere nice_? The entire city was a hotspot for vanity and tourism. To pick one perfect for someone as high maintenance as Eve would be imp-

Wait. She's high maintenance! She'd want to go somewhere expensive. He turned to his desktop computer and began searching for brand name department stores, uncertain of where one would start when taking someone like Eve around town. Despite his deep pockets, spending money so frivolously on someone like her brought a sense of hesitation on his end. Just glancing over the prices of bags and jewelry made it feel like he already didn't want to be in this relationship. But it was only once. After this he won't let her take advantage of him, again.

The city's largest mall. That was his best bet. Picking up his phone he sent Eve his reply.

"_I got a place in mind."_

* * *

The mock date should be simple. After sitting on the subway line reading over the do's and don'ts of courting women, he surmised that all he had to do with someone like Eve was keep his wallet open. At least that's what the booklet stated:

_Giving your date the freedom to do as they please with your budget is an expression of your wealth and devotion to them. Nothing is more attractive than a handsome man who can-and is willing to-provide for their partners wants and needs._

Keeping that in mind, he came to meet Eve at the city's biggest commercial building under the pretense that he would let his date drag him around to the most expensive stores at the highest levels of this seven-story shopping mall. However, who he met at the mall's entrance wasn't Eve at all-or at least the business rival he knew.

Expecting to find a woman still dressed in her black business attire, complete with coat, skirt, and stockings, he had instead almost literally ran into a woman who's golden eyes peeked out from under a pair of white-rimmed sunglasses. She had dressed in a simple white blouse, jeans, and a pair of casual sneakers. Her long silver hair was tied into a ponytail threaded through the back of a baseball cap and she looked more or less like your everyday pedestrian… far unlike a high-class businesswoman. It took him a moment after apologizing to the woman to figure out it was Eve and he was quickly pulled to a cafe where he was sat down at a table and forced to wait while she made an order. It was during this time that he noticed her choice of dress and only then did he realized that he was the one that was overdressed. He came straight to the mall after work without even thinking about changing out of his suit and tie.

Chung sat across from her at the table, looking over her curiously as she sat hunched over a large chocolate milkshake. She took a long sip through the straw before sitting back, shutting her eyes, as she waited out the brainfreeze.

"I thought you weren't feeling well."

"I'm not," Eve groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose before reaching into her bag and popping a pain reliever.

"You should really go to a clinic or something, then," Chung suggested, glancing at the time on his phone. It was just after six and the summer sun was beginning to set.

"No. I can deal with it," Eve sighed, leaning forward to take another long sip. She set the cup down, exhaling to calm her nerves before peeking up at Chung under the rim of her baseball cap. "So, we're here at the mall. Where are we going first?"

Chung hadn't thought that far, nor was he expecting her to give him the chance to choose.

"Um… I was hoping you'd tell me where you'd want to go."

"I'm open to anything, really," Eve said with a shrug, sitting back and taking small sips of her shake.

"Oh. Uh…" Chung fidgeted in his seat, unsure of what to do at this point. What did she want to do? He had to make sure she was happy and comfortable. Though at the moment, she looked anything but comfortable, nor did she look too entertained being around him.

"Um…" Chung's mind began to race as he tried to think of a solution to the problem. He wasn't ready for something like this. He didn't know what she wanted. "I'm… open to anything… too?"

Eve stared at him, tilting her head as his voice seemed to shake while he spoke.

It was easier when speaking publicly. He would at least have spent hours, if not days, rehearsing his presentations. But this was a spur of the moment date. He didn't have time to research more of his little book, and none of it stated anything about what to do if he was given the choice to do something he wanted in a mall. He wasn't even sure what to look for in one. He just knew this was a place to take dates who liked going shopping. Eve liked going shopping, didn't she?

"You… like going shopping don't you? Let's go shopping," Chung mumbled, uncertainty hanging heavy in his voice.

"Okay…?" Eve pursed her lips, unsatisfied with the answer, "Where do you want to start?"

Why was she asking so many questions? Why didn't she just choose?

"Uh…"

He didn't know what to say. Eve was looking at him. She was judging him. Why did she have to look at him like that? She leaned forward, tapping his side of the table and whispering a soft "Minus points" before standing. "I'm going to the restroom. Think of a place by the time I get back, please?"

Chung watched her leave. As soon as she rounded the corner he reached into his coat pocket, fishing out his trusty little book in search of an answer to his predicament. He came across a graph that outlined the interests of women based on their income. He traced it to the top and searched the x plane for the woman's age. She was older than him, right? By a year or so?

Eve's demographic roughly fell between jewelry and makeup. Did Eve wear makeup? If he knew her exact age he could pinpoint which section she'd want to check out. He mulled over the possibilities, quickly searching for jewelry departments and making note of makeup stores and their locations on his phone.

"I'm back," Eve said, causing Chung to jump and quickly shove the booklet back into his coat pocket. She was standing over him. Though she wore sunglasses, he could feel the look of revulsion bearing down on him. "Have you come to a decision?" she asked.

"Uh… well… yes. But," Chung kept his eyes on the table's surface. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and remembered what to do in moments of nervousness. The mirror. Imagine she was a mirror. He turned his gaze upward, looking not at Eve but through her, pretending she was a simple, framed, reflective surface. He was only talking to himself. She didn't exist. It was only his reflection. "First, how old are you?"

His reflection's brow furrowed. "I'm a year older than you," the mirror answered, "Why?"

"Ah, good. You will be going makeup shopping."

"Oh, will I?" his reflection responded, crossing their arms, "And after that?"

"I believe clothes shopping."

"You believe, huh?"

"After makeup," Chung nodded.

"Lead the way," his reflection said, stepping aside and letting him get out of his seat.

Chung did so, keeping ahead of the mirror as he traveled upwards to the fourth floor in search of a high-end department he recognized. Arriving at the destination, he stood aside, motioning the mirror to go on in first. The mirror looked over the entrance as the distinct smell of powder and foundation wafted from the store. With a heavy sigh, the mirror trudged on through with the young man following close behind.

He followed the mirror through the shelves, stopping whenever it stopped, and moving when it lost interest in whatever it was looking at. It continued silently like this for several minutes as his date seemed to float from section to section without really picking up or touching any of the products.

"After this I saw a clothing store you would like," Chung said, shifting on his heels as he waited for the mirror to finish reading through a label.

"I was waiting on you," the mirror replied, the reflected surface turning towards the young man.

"Huh?"

"You wanted to come here, after all." His reflection crossed its arms, turning it towards him as it appeared to be waiting for him to do something.

"What… what do you mean? I came here for you," Chung reasoned.

"So did I," the mirror responded. A distinct crack appeared straight down the mirror's surface.

The young man didn't understand. He didn't want any of this. He chose this place for her. For Eve.

Another crack in the mirror. Shards fell as Eve's sunglasses and cap could be seen peeking through the holes of the surface.

"But… I thought you'd want makeup," Chung replied referring back to his booklet.

"Are you saying I need it?" It wasn't his reflection talking anymore. It was Eve. There was a visible pout in her lips. She was hurt. He could feel himself locking up, again.

"N...no. I never said that."

"Then why are we here?"

"I-I don't… I don't know," Chung stammered, getting a less-than-impressed stare from his date.

Eve sighed, turning to the shelf and picking out a particular cherry-flavored lip gloss before making her way out of the store.

Chung reached for the small bottle, "I'll pay for that-"

The young woman pulled it away with a turn of her head, "No. I'll pay. You just wait outside."

"Oh. Okay," Chung muttered, shuffling out of the department store.

"Minus points, by the way," Eve whispered as he passed by.

There was quite a lineup at the register and Chung was given a chance to reflect on what happened in the department store. He didn't understand what her deal was. Eve was supposed to be happy. She was supposed to appreciate the place he brought her to. Yet, somehow, he messed up. Somehow-he wasn't sure how-he insulted her with what he did. He thought this was what she wanted, yet all she did was minus points from him. What was he doing wrong?

"Book," Eve's voice caught his attention and he looked up to see her standing in front of him with an outstretched hand.

"Huh?"

"Give me the book," she demanded.

Startled by her sudden rise in tone, the young man quickly reached into his coat pocket and fished out the small book. She plucked it from his hands and he watched in horror as she gripped it by its front and back cover. With a bit of effort and several attempts, Eve tore the book in half, right down its spine. The entire time Chung stood there, dumbfounded, with an arm hanging in a fruitless attempt to stop her.

Eve stepped away from him, keeping his precious book out of reach before she took the ripped halves and stuffed it into a nearby trash bin.

"What are you- why did you-" Chung was at a loss for words when his rival returned. She huffed, blowing the locks of hair out of her eyes as she readjusted her baseball cap.

"I was doing you a favor," she said, "That book is worthless and I will not have you make a fool of yourself in front of me."

"How the hell am I supposed to find my special someone without it?" Chung exclaimed, feeling quite vulnerable without his guide.

"Your 'special someone'?" Eve scoffed, her tone causing Chung to wince at her cutting words. "I'm right here."

Chung suddenly remembered this was a mock date. "I… er... oh-" the young man stumbled for words, feeling absolutely cornered by this woman, "Y-yeah. Yeah, I forgot." For now, at least for the month, Eve was his mock girlfriend.

"Alright. Time-out," Eve sighed, pulling off her sunglasses and taking a seat at a small nearby bench. She patted the available spot next to her. "Sit."

"Ah. I mean… so close to you? It's time-out after all so wouldn't that mean this time we aren't pretend-"

"Sit!"

He did so, puppy-paw eyes locked on to the light-grey tile at his feet. At the corner of his eye he saw Eve's legs shuffle closer. He could feel her gaze on him.

She was looking down on him.

Oh how he hated this feeling. He hated feeling powerless; like he was nothing but a bother to someone. He was scared. He was lost. But worst of all, he was aware-aware that his failed relationships up to this point were all his fault. At least that's what it felt like. Eve had done nothing but make him feel like he was doing something wrong.

"Look at me," Eve said, her voice both gentle and stern at the same time, like a mother to her misbehaving child.

He turned his head towards her. Yet as he did so, his defense mechanism kicked in. His subconscious mentally reconstructed the mirror for him. He wasn't looking at Eve, again, and instead found himself staring at his reflection once mo-

The mirror shattered as a soft, delicate hand pushed through that mentally constructed barrier, and held him by his chin.

"Don't look at the mirror, Mr. Seiker. Look at me," Eve said.

"H-huh?"

"You said that's what you do when you're nervous, right? You pretend to talk to your mirror?"

She remembered? Even if it was just a passing mention of his habit several days ago?

Her fingers caressed his jawline, pulling away as she held up two fingers, catching focus before directing his gaze towards her golden eyes.

"Look at me… and breathe."

He did so. Inhale. Exhale. His eyes never left hers. He never noticed how bright her eyes were. They felt… calming; welcoming. Maybe it was because they weren't scowling at him like she often did during their brief interactions as business rivals. Either way, this was the longest he had ever held eye contact with anyone… and for once he didn't feel nervous.

"Better?"

"I think so…" Chung muttered.

"Good… good," she nodded and was the first to break eye contact as she carefully chose her words in her head.

"Mr. Seiker, if I may, I want you to forget everything that book has taught you."

"Why…?"

"Because, aside from its terrible generalization of women, it forces you to act disingenuous. Thus far, everything we've done together was based on what the book told you to do-not what you wanted to do."

"But I don't know the first thing about courting women!"

"That's why we're doing this, right? To help you find your stride?"

"I really don't want to make a fool out of myself."

"Based on what I've seen, you've already done so a hundred times over."

Eve's words struck Chung like a spear and she saw it in the way Chung's eyes visibly glossed over as his focus tried to turn back to the mirror.

She stopped this, however, by snapping her fingers, startling him and pulling him back into reality.

"It's okay to make mistakes. It's not okay to ignore them and follow a poorly written guide." Eve paused, placing a hand over her mouth, "When you find your… special someone-"

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I'm merely quoting you," Eve defended, though Chung swore he saw the faintest crack of a smile at the edge of her lips, "When you find your special someone, would you prefer it if they fell for the original you or the person a book tells you to be?"

Chung saw the point she was trying to make right away. He sighed, shrugging half-heartedly as he muttered a defeated "Me."

"That's right," Eve nodded in satisfaction, "Use this opportunity to be yourself and, please, don't refer to some generalized blanket statement telling you what women want. You need to find out for yourself what your partner is into. Sometimes, it's just better to ask. Personally, I prefer it if both parties in a relationship were enjoying their time together… so let me enjoy your company, and you enjoy mine. I want to date you. Not the book. Okay?"

"Okay."

Chung sat back, thinking on her words and repeating them in his head like a mantra.

_She wants to date me. Not the book._

_She wants to date me. Not the book._

_She wants to date me. Not the book..._

_She wants to date me?_

He blinked. Surely she was speaking as a mock partner in that instance, right?

"Um… Eve?"

"Right," Eve said, standing up quickly and putting on her sunglasses, "Let's resume this assessment, shall we?"

"O-okay."

"Where shall we go next?"

"Clothes shopping," Chung trailed off, garnering a rather judgemental cock of an eyebrow from his pretend-girlfriend. He raised his hands defensively, waving any negative notion away as he tried to explain himself, "It's not what the book told me to do, honest. I… just felt like I was overdressed for our date today so I wanted to match you." He pointed at his suit and tie and she looked him over before acknowledging the honesty in his statement. This was what he wanted. Eve wouldn't have had it any other way.

* * *

The rest of the night continued with significantly less problems. After changing into fresh set of casual clothes, Chung felt the walls of formalities beginning to crumble between him and Eve. The more he allowed himself to just relax around his date, the more fun he was actually starting to have. He wasn't sure when it happened during their time together, but the lurking notion of all of this being a mock relationship seemed to disappear. He was enjoying himself. And for once, his date appeared to as well.

And even though their conversations were tentative and consisted mostly of small talk, everything felt much more natural.

Before they knew it, the mall stores were already starting to close up shop for the night. Eve ended the night not with a bag of expensive jewelry or designer products, but a two-piece swimsuit bought on impulse when Chung decided to buy a new pair of board shorts for the summer.

He walked her to her subway stop, even though it was a couple blocks past his, not because he remembered the book stating he should, but because he enjoyed her company.

"Well, the train should be here any minute," Eve said, stopping at the turnstiles as they both stared at the monitor above the entrance, "Thanks for spending time with me, Chung."

She said his first name tentatively, a first for her, and a much welcome step in breaking down formalities.

"Thanks for bringing me out of my shell," Chung replied, rubbing the back of his neck as he recalled the first part of the evening.

"It had to be done. Otherwise we wouldn't have gotten anywhere. All in all, I'd say you've redeemed yourself. You get a pass, today."

"That's so generous of you," Chung laughed, "Which reminds me, you said you had a point system Implemented with rewards? What rewards are we talking about exactly?"

"Well, at this point you're actually in the negative, so there isn't any real reason for me to divulge your prizes. So until you can at least break even, I'm not obligated to tell you."

"That's harsh…"

"I just haven't put any thought into it, honestly," Eve said, turning her head away, an air of pride returning to her, "But I'll think of something appropriate for your efforts. Until then, no reward info for you until you break even."

"Oh, speaking of prizes," Chung said just as the train past the turnstiles arrived. He quickly dug through his plastic bag from the mall and fished out a large bar of chocolate. He handed it to Eve with a smile.

"I noticed. You said you weren't feeling well and you would occasionally look like you were in pain. I think I get it. This is for you."

The young woman took the candy bar curiously before her eyes widened as she tried to hide her embarrassment. She didn't thank him out loud but in that brief moment before she turned to hurry for her train, he heard two faint words whispered as she left. One that was said with an ever so subtle smile.

"Plus points."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! its nice not writing a drama heavy story and taking a break to write something fun and light hearted. at least i think its light hearted. what do you think of the story so far? more importantly... what do you think of eve? is she doing this for chung's sake or is there something more... Sinister? mwahahaha jk. im not evil like that. ****Cover done by Elpheart! Check them out here: **** w elpheart/**


	3. Chapter 3

Chung's phone dinged, catching his attention just as he finished his last set. Toweling the sweat from his brow and around his neck he padded over to the coffee table in his living room and tapped on his phone to wake it up.

"_Good evening. What are you up to?"_

It was Eve.

Chung sat on his bench, his fingers dancing over they keys as he typed his reply.

"_Just finished working out. You're texting a lot earlier than usual. What's up?"_

He tossed his phone on the couch and began cleaning up his resistance machine.

It had been almost a full week since their unplanned date. Since then, they haven't seen each other in person. However, that didn't stop Chung from wanting to keep in touch with her. He had been so moved by Eve's lesson in dating that he couldn't help but contact her the following evening. Doing so meant he broke a very important rule from his booklet: the rule stated that a guy should always wait two days after the first date before contacting them, again. Calling or texting a woman too early was a sign of desperation, and any point after the two day waiting-period was a sign of disinterest.

During that time he was nervous that he might've been overstepping his bounds; that Eve would take away more points for appearing too clingy.

But Eve didn't do that. In fact, she did the opposite. She gave him more points. She said that she rather enjoyed the meeting and was glad to see that Chung was eager to continue. It was like everything he knew about dating was wrong. Whatever he learned from the book, Eve quickly, and unknowingly, disproved.

From that point on, it was almost a routine for Chung and Eve to start texting each other after work. It seemed that Eve enjoyed his company and Chung-ever curious about this new territory in courting women-was absolutely grateful that Eve was willing to play the role of a mock girlfriend.

Chung's phone dinged again, and he finished up his cleanup before checking the text.

"_You work out?"_

"_Yeah. Usually after I get off work. Then cook dinner. I get all that stuff out of the way by the time you start texting me."_

"_Oh."_

"_Yeah. But, anyways, you're texting earlier than usual. What's up?"_

"_Had a really important meeting today. It went very well and father decided to let me go home early to celebrate."_

"_How sweet of him :)"_

There was a long pause in that message, despite being read. Chung managed to get most of his food out of the fridge and ready to cook before she messaged back.

"_Yes…"_

"_Everything okay?"_

"_Yes."_

"_So what do you have planned with your extended Friday evening?"_

She had read his message but there was yet another long pause. By then Chung was already halfway through cooking his meal before he got a ding on his phone.

It was a picture; not of Eve but of a television.

From the perspective, Chung guessed Eve was sitting on a couch. In the foreground was a bowl filled to the brim with popcorn and a bottle of sweet tea. The large television screen covered almost the entirety of the background in what appeared to be a rather elaborate, mahogany-walled living room. On the screen, Chung could barely read the bright title card of a new movie drama that he expressed interest in watching just a few days ago.

At the forefront of the picture was a simple request:

"_Want to watch this with me?_

Eve remembered.

Just the fact that she remembered such a minor conversation from days ago was enough to bring a smile to his face.

"_Of course! I'm almost finished cooking. Gonna have a quick shower then we can watch."_

She sent him an animated sticker with an onion avatar giving a gigantic thumbs up.

"_Text me when you're done :)"_

* * *

"Cut funding…? What do you mean cut funding?" Chung asked, looking over the documents set on his desk.

"I mean exactly what I said, Chung," Helputt grumbled, crossing his arms as he leaned on his son's desk, "We're going to have to put a halt on our plans to release our first smartphone at least until after next year. More investors have sided with Altera than I'm comfortable with, meaning we won't have money to front the costs of production. We're going to have to delay our plans, that's all. We'll release your smartphone in two years time-"

"But we'd have to start from scratch if we wait that long! Nobody is going to want two-year-old tech!" Remembering who he was speaking to, he quickly kept his voice in check and resisted the urge to pound his desk out of frustration.

This was supposed to be the big one. His line of electronics was supposed to propel the family's business into a more high-tech era. At this rate the company was going to fall far behind their competitors.

Chung turned from his father, setting his focus out towards the city as he took a deep, long, breath.

"I'm sorry," Helputt said after a long while, "But we're a general electronics company, first and foremost. We can't afford to hamstring our other departments. The move to mobile appliances is going to have to wait."

"I understand that much, dad," Chung replied, wistfully, "It just… I really wanted to make my mark in the company as someone people can depend on. You've told me, time and again, that I'm the company's future… I don't want to let you down."

"You'll have plenty of opportunity to do that in the coming years, son," his father reassured him. Chung heard heavy footsteps around the desk and a large hand rested on his shoulder, "I know you're eager to get your name out there. I'm proud knowing the future heir is as ambitious as you. But don't forget about the here and now. It's not the end of the world. Think on what you can do with the cards you're dealt."

Chung stared out at the bright, shining rays of sunlight reflected off of the distant Altera tower. He sighed, again. "Yeah… yeah. You're right."

Helputt patted his son on the shoulder, "Cheer up! I do have another project for you in mind. We're thinking of looking at an upgraded line of robot vacuums and a control center for all Hamel appliances. Think you're up to the task?"

"I'll see what can be done…" Chung mumbled, not taking his eyes off the shining tower in the distance. He remembered Eve mentioned something about an important meeting last Friday. He also remembered the investors were visiting Altera Tower that same day. Eve was allowed to go home early, saying her meeting went "really well". If there was anything he was really good at, it was connecting the dots. What he had with Eve was important to him on a personal level. But to Eve, this was nothing more than some kind of game. She was distracting him from what was important. And what was important was the fact that they were rivals.

He should never forget that.

"By the way, Chung, I have a rather interesting question for you."

The young man turned to his father who was, at this time, scrolling through his phone.

"I know you don't like it when I delve into your personal love life, but rumors have been circulating my newsfeed about a certain son of mine meeting with another woman."

He turned his phone towards Chung and the sight nearly caused the young man's heart to stop.

It was an indisputable photograph of him sitting on a mall bench next to an unidentified woman with long white hair tied in a ponytail. Her hand was extended towards Chung, gently caressing his cheek. Not much could be seen from the back view of her head other than the fact that she was wearing sunglasses.

"So, who's the girl?"

Chung's jaw hung open as he desperately searched for words that made moderate sense when spoken. "Oh… er… um… well, you see…"

He stammered again and again as he tried to think of a name. He couldn't just say Eve. Saying her name would be catastrophic. He needed another name. Any other name. He just didn't know.

"I… don't know?"

That was a terrible answer.

"Really? Huh," Helputt mumbled. He turned the screen back around and investigated the photo further. "Well, if you don't know, do be careful. You're only starting your climb in business and we wouldn't want rumors circulating the internet that you're hiring escorts."

Chung's eyes widened, "I'm not!"

"I'm kidding! I know you'd never do something like that. But remember, you have a public image to maintain. With that photo floating around the net, it's only going to attract more curious journalists," Helputt pocketed the phone and made his way for the door, stopping just as he was about to leave, "But, when you get the chance, I hope you learn her name. You've seemed so much more like yourself recently. I'd like to meet her one day."

"Like that'd happen," Chung whispered to himself before turning to his father, "I'll be careful. Thanks for the heads up."

* * *

"_Chung?"_

The young man squinted at the bright screen, as he groggily rose from his slumber. Glancing at the time on display, he saw that it was just past eight in the morning. And to think he was actually going to get a chance to sleep in on a Saturday.

"_Are you awake?"_

He stared at the message, a pit in his stomach forming as he slowly rolled out of bed.

"_I am, now. What's up?"_

"_It's the weekend."_

"_Yeah."_

He tossed the phone on his bed and stumbled to the bathroom to relieve himself. He heard his phone ding, again, as he was washing his face and he took his time to get around answering it.

It was only after he had made his bed and thrown open the windows, letting in the early summer morning sun, before he finally gave Eve's message a read.

"_Minus points."_

He rolled his eyes at this as he padded his way out to the living room and flipped on the A/C and prepared to do his weekly cleanup of his little apartment.

Another text message.

"_You've been quieter than usual this past week. Is everything okay?"_

He stared at the message, broom in one hand, as he thought of the ways he could answer such a prying question. Yes, he had been a little less responsive to her, there was no denying that. But since last Monday's word with his father, he was reminded that this game Eve had strung him along for two weeks was nothing but that: a game.

His fingers moved from key to key, creating a simple, clear message stating exactly how he felt about all of this.

It was making him lose focus. Chung had more important things to do than pretend to be in a relationship with her. He didn't want that. This make-believe situation she put him in was a waste of time and would ultimately lead to nothing in the end, anyways.

And yet no other woman had ever cared for him as deeply as Eve had. That was the part that stung the most.

It wasn't because his project was delayed, nor was it because he knew that none of this would matter by next month. It was because he had never felt more genuinely loved by a woman than by the one pretending to be his girlfriend.

"_I want this to end. Please."_

He stared at the message, his thumb hovering over the send key. This was sad. Pathetic. He wanted so badly for this game to stop. But at the same time he hoped it wouldn't.

He deleted the message.

"_Everything's fine. I've just had a lot of work-related hang ups."_

He wasn't completely lying. This all stemmed from work, after all.

"_If you're stressed, then I'm here for you."_

"Eve…" Chung leaned against the wall. This wasn't fair. It felt good knowing he had her to lean on. Yet knowing her affection was only temporary, made it exponentially worse.

Another ding. He was greeted with a picture that nearly made him drop his phone.

It was a picture of Eve. The camera was pointed upward, the top half of her face taking up the lower foreground of the photo. A bright blue sky and a tall, familiar looking apartment complex could be seen in the background. She had a hand extended, pointing at the building behind her. It was his apartment. A simple, transparent message in white font could be seen over the apartment's tinted black glass:

"_Literally. Which room do I go to?"_

She was here for him?! Literally?!

He looked out of his window and, sure enough, Eve was standing across the street waiting for his reply.

She had her sunglasses on, again, but wasn't sporting her baseball cap. Instead, her long silver-hair had been tied into two pigtails. She wore a pink and white t shirt and a pair of denim shorts. Draped on her arm appeared to be a stuffed cloth bag whose contents couldn't be discerned from how high up he was. At a glance, she looked nothing like the prim and proper suit-wearing daughter of Altera.

Snapping out of his shock, the reality of Eve-or even a girl, in general-visiting him began to sink in. He had to clean!

In a panic Chung ran to the kitchen and began putting last night's dishes away. With broom still in hand he half-swept, half-washed, and somehow also managed to dust the bar area between all that as well.

He never had a girl visit, before. He couldn't let her see his apartment at this state. Granted, he was a neat person to begin with, and there was little to really clean, but he was still in a panic of what she'd think.

His phone dinged again, and he suddenly remembered he didn't even reply.

Chung dropped everything and dove for the phone on the table. Expecting to see the dreaded "minus points" message, he was shocked and relieved to see it wasn't that but something a little more pleasant.

"_I don't mind if your place is a mess. I know I came unannounced."_

"_No! It's fine! I'm on the top floor. Room 1007."_

As soon as he sent the message he was immediately back on cleaning duty. He straightened his weights, dusted the coffee table, and ran the vacuum over the rug. By the time he was finished wrapping up the cord to the vacuum cleaner, a knock came to his door.

She was here.

But he wasn't done yet!

He scanned the room, looking for anything he might've missed. Then saw the door to his room opened. He shut it, the sound of it slamming could probably be heard by his neighbors.

Satisfied, he cleared his throat.

"C-come in!"

There was a pause followed by a muffled, "How…?"

Ah! He had to let her in! Of course!

The padded thumps of his footsteps hurried to the door and he quickly threw it open, nearly smacking Eve in the face in the process.

"Hi! I'm here… Er, I mean, you're here! Yeah. The code to my room is: 3604" Chung stammered.

"Oh. Thank… you," Eve said, slightly bewildered by the way he burst out of his apartment. She quietly pulled out her phone to make a note of it before propping her sunglasses on her head. The bag she carried at her side was a lot puffier up close-probably due to the towel she had stuffed in it.

What'd she need the towel for?

Eve turned her attention back down the hall, giving a quick bow and a thank you to someone at the other end.

Chung peeked out just in time to see the elevator doors shut.

"That was an ajumma who showed me to the elevators. She asked me where I was going and I gave her your room number."

"Oh, that's the owner's wife. Nice old lady," Chung said, still out of breath. He stood aside to let her walk in.

"She knows you, yeah. She asked me who I was."

"And?"

"I told her I was your girlfriend," Eve said, turning her face away from Chung as she slipped off her shoes.

"Ah."

"She didn't ask anymore questions, if that's what you're wondering," she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, "She doesn't seem to know who I am. In fact, she looked quite happy for you."

That sounded like something the owner's wife would get excited over. She kept a close eye on the tenants that came in and out of the apartments, after all. Seeing someone like Eve coming to visit Chung definitely was a first. And for Eve to openly admit that she was his girlfriend…

"I wasn't wondering that. It just sounded nice," Chung replied, feeling a bit fluttery at the thought.

"What sounded nice?"

"Nothing, nothing…" he watched Eve as she slowly made her way past the kitchen and towards the living room area of his apartment.

Save for a couple fake potted plants that framed the large window looking out into the bay, there wasn't much else out of the ordinary. There was a 54" television, couch, and coffee table set up facing the window and a black, white, and grey rug underneath the glass coffee table. Behind that setup was a dining table pressed up against a largely unused bar that opened to the kitchen. And finally, along the wall that separated the living room from his bedroom, was the resistance machine and a rack of weights.

Eve came to a stop between the weight machine and the sofa, placing a hand on the backrest as she eyed the machine with tentative curiosity. She then turned her attention towards the view of the glistening bay just a few blocks away from the apartment.

"So this is where you live," Eve said, taking in her surroundings as Chung stood in the hallway.

"Well... It's not an estate, unfortunately. But it's close to work."

"I like it."

"Yeah?"

"It takes me over an hour of taxi and subway traveling just to get to my work, since I live on an estate out of town. This is much nicer."

"Oh. Thank you…" Chung replied, feeling humbled after having someone like Eve compliment his living space. Having lived in his father's place until his late teens, the shift to an apartment, although luxurious in normal standards, felt a bit cramped for his liking.

Chung shook his head. He had a more pressing issue to address.

"So… what are you doing here, anyways?"

"I told you: I'm here for you," Eve replied, still staring out at the water.

"Oh? Somehow I don't believe you since I told you I was stressed literally minutes before you sent me that picture."

"Okay. I lied," Eve stated, flatly, "But my original intent overlaps my new purpose of visiting you."

"And that is…?"

"Let's go to the beach."

"What? Right now?" Glancing at the clock it was just half past eight in the morning, "Didn't the forecast say it was going to rain today?"

"It doesn't look like it's going to rain," Eve said, motioning at the clear skies. She turned to Chung, her golden orbs meeting his cyan ones, "Let's go."

"...Why?"

"Chung… you've seemed out of it this past week. And when I did get a chance to talk to you, it just seemed like you weren't even there. I wanted to see if I could cheer you up. It's what couples do, isn't it?"

Chung stared into her eyes. She really wanted to go. But hearing her bring up the issue of the past week brought back that heavy weight to his gut. Yes… this was what couples did together, but he quickly reminded himself that what they had wasn't real. She was just assessing him.

His motivation to score any points at all dipped at this point and it showed in the way he sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Alright," he said, "let's go."

With such a lackluster reply, he was surprised to see not scorn in her eyes but something else. Was she… worried?

"Okay…" Eve mumbled, taking a seat on the couch, "I'll wait for you to get ready."

Chung nodded and shuffled to his room to grab his things.

"And, Chung?"

"Hm?"

"Is everything really okay?"

This was all just an act. He had to remind himself that. No matter how worried she may look, this was all part of her assessment. He had to reassure her that everything was fine. After all, she would be ashamed to have a rival like him score so low on anything. He tacked on the best, confident, smile he could muster. He just had to put up with this for two more weeks. Play along, but never forget: this was all just a game.

"Yep! Let's have some fun!"

* * *

Tiny clouds rolled overhead, guided by a calm, cool, ocean breeze blowing in from the south. The sun was warm, but not as glaring as it often would be on any other summer day. He was dressed in his beachwear bottoms that he bought at the mall and an unbuttoned white summer shirt to protect from the sun. This was nice. For years he had been so busy with what went on around him that he has forgotten what it was like to simply lay on the sand and cloud gaze. On any normal day he would have been content finding something to do in his apartment. A creature of habit, Chung was used to that lifestyle being a sickly child growing up. It was rare for him to ever come out unless his best friend took him out for drinks in the evening.

He could get used to coming out for a morning stroll on the beach. It just never came to mind as an option... until Eve brought him here.

For a woman that constantly put him on a competitive edge, he never knew being around her outside of work would be so… relaxing. Well, save for the panic attack this morning from her surprise visit, his father was right: he did feel happier. She was the kind of person he could easily talk the night away with after a rough day at work. He didn't feel like he had to follow a script or a plan when speaking to her. Everything just felt-

Wait. No. This was all only temporary. After the month was over, Chung's life was going to return to normal. He can't let himself get too emotionally invested in Eve's little game.

"Well…? What do you think?" Eve asked as she stood over him, giving him an interesting upward angle view of her bathing suit. Chung sat up, turning to her to get a better look. Her attention was on her phone at the moment and, after a quick sigh, she sent a message before stuffing it in her bag with her and Chung's street clothes.

"Everything alright?" Chung asked, noting the look of annoyance in her eyes.

Eve shrugged, "Just work-related business. Anyways, what do you think?"

A large beach towel with a bright red parrot, printed on one side, was draped over her shoulders. Seeing as very few others were at the beach this early in the day, she took the liberty to pull off the towel, revealing her swimsuit to her boyfriend.

It was the very same one she bought on impulse from the surf shop at the mall. Though he had seen what it looked like pinned on a hanger, it was a completely different story seeing it on Eve. Did it always look this revealing?

Well, it wasn't like it was anything skimpy like a g-string or those articles of clothing with the laces. In fact, as far as two-piece bathing suits went, the ones Eve wore were relatively tame. Despite this, Chung was used to seeing her being clothed at least from shoulder to thighs. She was wearing a black two-piece with pink trimmings on the top and bottoms. Her skin was fair in the morning sun. It was smooth and glistened a little with the sunblock she had put on earlier. Though he was nervous to look at her directly, he couldn't deny that she looked good.

His attention eventually fell to her top. It was a peculiar design unlike the usual bikini straps that simply went over the shoulder. The straps were attached to a collar secured around her neck, framing her upper chest area. Not that there was much to frame in the first place. She was smaller than the average woman as far as breast size went, but given her slender body, her bust actually-

Eve bent over and flicked Chung on his forehead.

"Ouch!" Chung jolted away.

"I can practically hear what you're thinking," Eve said. She draped the towel back over her shoulders, wrapping herself tightly, especially over her chest and turned her head away with a huff. "Minus points."

"You know, that's not the only part of the body guys focus on, right?" Chung said while rubbing the tiny red mark on his head.

"Still. That doesn't stop me from being self conscious about it. The fact you were staring at my chest for so long made me feel like you were comparing me to others."

"I just thought it looked good on you," Chung said, getting an audible "Hmph" from Eve as she turned her back to him. That was a genuine compliment. He wasn't sure why she was still upset. "If you want me to be honest I think you look sexy."

He said it. His mind had been screaming for him to stop, once half of the sentence had left his lips and he couldn't believe he outright said something so scandalous to the daughter of Altera.

She was looking back at him, now-her golden eyes judging him where he sat. Part of him wanted to take that back; to tell her she heard wrong-that he was just joking. Another part of him wanted to stand his ground. He may be internally wishing he could just curl up and die ef embarrassment but he was ever so slightly curious about how she would take such a compliment.

"Plus points," Eve said in a hushed voice almost drowned out by the laping tides. She pulled off the towel, spreading it out next to his as she took a seat next to him. "I think you look sexy, too."

That was the first time a girl openly said that to him. To say he was flattered would be an understatement. Alternatively, saying he didn't completely believe her would be one hundred percent accurate. Whether or not she was being honest about her statement was lost to him, however, as her eyes were hidden under her sunglasses as she laid on the towel to sunbathe.

"It's a beautiful day," Eve said, turning her head slightly towards Chung, who couldn't help but drink in the sight of her fair skin glistening in the sunlight. He turned away, shaking such thoughts away from his head and stared off into the distant ocean horizon as he reminded himself of the truth of their situation. The clouds were coming closer.

"For now, at least."

"That's fine. It's what we have now that matters."

"Yeah…" Chung muttered, his thoughts floating elsewhere. He didn't want to tell her that she was wrong. What they had now was temporary. No matter how much joy he felt from being around her, he knew that he was only a few weeks away from losing that. And then what? Go back to the life he had? He wasn't exactly looking forward to a year of awkward dates and designing the next leading line of vacuum cleaners for his company.

"Chung?"

"Hm?"

"Are you absolutely sure nothing is wrong?"

Was he that easy to read?

He waved her off. "It's nothing. Just work-related issues."

She propped herself up on her elbow and looked him over. She raised her sunglasses and gave him what Chung would consider a poor attempt at making puppy-dog eyes. He simply shrugged, turning his attention back to the sea. The entire time, he could feel her scooting closer. What was she doing? Was she trying to pressure the truth out of him? Glaring at him wasn't going to work. If anything it just made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

She was drawing closer. He could see it as their shadows melded together.

A ringtone sounded from Eve's bag yet she didn't seem to hear it. Either that or she was ignoring it.

Then, something brushed against his fingers.

Naturally, he pulled his hand away and turned just in time to see Eve mere inches away from his face. There was a brief moment in both of confusion in both of their eyes followed by what Chung can only discern as rejection on Eve's end. She broke eye contact and reached for her bag.

"Sorry, I have to take this call," she said in a huff, facing away from Chung as she put her sunglasses back on.

Chung gripped his hand as if he had been bitten, and he looked at it, wondering what that was that brushed against him… though it didn't take a genius to figure out.

There was no way that was accidental. She was trying to hold his hand.

Why?

Eve was speaking in a whisper on her phone. She didn't seem too happy about whoever was speaking to her on the other line. Despite this, her entire body language seemed to change as soon as she picked up her phone. Her posture was straightened, her chest was out, and her choice of words-at least the ones Chung could hear from her whispers-denoted great respect.

The entire time she talked, Chung stared at her hand pressed against the red parrot towel. It was much smaller than his. She had long, slender fingers. Her nails had been recently polished, too. He couldn't tell from the brief moment of contact but just from looking, he could see how soft and delicate they were compared to his calloused hands.

For a moment Eve's voice escalated in minor protest before calming down, once more. Her hand was clenched tightly into a fist in that brief outburst but quickly relaxed as she composed herself.

She was clearly troubled… but what could he do to help?

Eve tried to comfort him by holding his hand. Maybe he could do the same?

"Yes…" Eve sighed, still talking on her phone, "Yes, I understand. However..."

She wouldn't mind, would she? It wasn't like he was directly interrupting her or anything. This was for his assessment-even though it ultimately wouldn't matter in the end.

Chung shook his head, stopping himself from justifying what he was doing. What was important was the fact that Eve didn't look too happy. Business rival or not, Chung just wanted her to feel better and he didn't need any reason to justify it.

He gently placed his hand over hers, bringing a noticeable pause to Eve's train of thought mid conversation. Still facing away from Chung, he could just make out the closing statements to Eve's phone call.

"...I'm sorry, but something important just came up… Yes… Yes, this evening. You have my word. Goodbye."

She hung up and stuffed the phone back into her bag with an exasperated sigh. She seemed to be focusing her attention towards the distant Altera tower.

He kept his hand on hers, giving as much time as she needed to collect her thoughts. Wordlessly, she turned her hand over, gripping his tightly before finally facing him.

"Let's go for a dip," she suggested after a long while. Unlike during the phone call, her voice noticeably lost its formal lilt.

Chung smiled at her. Not wanting to pry on her personal business, he simply stood and helped her to her feet.

"That sounds like a great idea."

* * *

"Over here!" Chung shouted through the relentless downpour. He guided Eve quickly along the sidewalk towards an empty bus stop. Relieved to find some shade, the two hurriedly took cover in the glass shelter.

Chung and Eve heaved as they tried to catch their breath, pausing only to listen to the loud rumble of thunder, overhead.

Korean summers were known for its sudden shifts in weather. The storm that blew in had caught both of them by surprise while they had unintentionally wandered quite a ways away from their belongings. The run back to their towels and to the nearest shelter had soaked them to the bone.

"You okay? Do we have everything?" Chung asked as Eve inspected the water-logged bag.

"I'm fine. Here's your wallet and phone… they're just a bit damp but we can leave it on the bench to dry. All of our clothes are soaked, though."

She spread the towel on the bench for them and Chung sat down, laying their belongings out to dry next to him before patting the other open spot for Eve to sit.

"Thanks," Eve replied, wringing the water out of her pigtails. "I'm not looking forward to taking the subway home in wet clothes."

"I have a dryer you can use at my place. We just have to wait until the storm dies down a bit. You can have a shower, too, if you want."

Eve shivered as a strong gust of wind blew under the cracks of the glass bus stop. "Yeah… yeah, that sounds like a plan, if you don't mind having me."

Chung pulled out the second towel and draped it over her. "Nah, I don't. It'd suck if you got sick."

Thunder rumbled loudly overhead and the two watched as lightning flashed in the distance. They were both silent for some time and the lack of movement finally caught up with him as he wrapped his arms around his body.

Eve noticed this and scooted closer to him. She offered him some of the towel and he politely declined.

"I'm fine… really."

The silver-haired woman frowned. She ignored his rejection and tossed the towel around him, moving close enough to press her body against his.

"Eve…?"

"You've been saying that a lot today and I refuse to believe it," she said, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. She slid her arm around his and took his hand in hers.

Chung watched as she laced her fingers with his, the sight bringing a storm of emotions just as wild as the weather. She squeezed gently and, after a moment that lasted longer than acceptable, he gave one back, albeit much less enthused than hers.

His head fell back slightly as he shut his eyes. He tried to pull his focus away from the warmth of her body leaning against him and the softness of her fingers. He tried to ignore the fact that she was undoubtedly staring at him for his lackluster response.

This was all temporary. He reminded himself, again and again, in his head that the affection Eve was showing him was just pretend-that it was to help him with relationships. This was all to benefit him in finding a partner and appeasing his father's wishes. Eve won't be ashamed to call him her rivaland and, after this trial, his focus would be back to outclassing Altera in tech innovation. This was all for his future.

"Chung?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you please tell me what's been bothering you?"

He looked at her as she rested her chin on his shoulder. She was so close to him. Why was she making it so difficult to remember this was all just an act? Should he tell her the truth? What would he even say, in the first place? That he's falling for her? That this fake relationship has moved him so much that he can't get over the idea of her leaving him in two weeks time? What would she even think once he laid it all to bare? Would she laugh? Would she recoil in disgust?

Chung shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Why would it matter?"

Eve sat up at that question, hurt visible in her eyes. It was enough to make Chung immediately regret ever opening his mouth.

Chung had to take it back. "I… I didn't mean that."

"Chung…"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm not saying that I don't think I matter to you. I just had a lot on my mind and I really don't want to put you through any of it, seeing as you have problems of your own and I-"

Eve shook her head, taking his hand in hers. Chung fell silent as his girlfriend took a moment to carefully choose her words.

"I understand how you feel, Chung. Sometimes you feel a little cornered; that your best option is to keep your problems to yourself. But when the people closest to you see you suffering… how do you think they feel when you won't even open up to them?"

Chung mulled the notion around in his head. "I don't know," he shrugged, "Pretty useless, I guess. Like I'm not worth talking to…"

His eyes met Eve's and the realization hit him like a slap to the face.

"Eve. I didn't mean it like that. I just thought-"

"When you... find your special someone," she began, causing Chung to internally recoil from the way she was quoting him, again, "I want you to remember that feeling when they ask you what's wrong. Couples are meant to support each other through thick and thin. They're that person you confide in when no one else will do and you, likewise, to them. Communication is what keeps couples together. Understand?"

"Yeah…"

"Good. Now… would you please tell me what's been upsetting you this past week?"

Chung averted his eyes towards the ground. He didn't answer. He understood Eve's reasoning but he just couldn't bring himself to say. Where would he even begin? This week-hell, even this day-was a rollercoaster for him

"Chung…?"

He looked at her. This was a big mistake as he immediately felt another rush of guilt staring into those golden orbs. Her facial expression was static but her eyes spoke volumes about her genuine concern for him.

The young man sighed, "Okay… but can I call a time-out? The whole… mock relationship thing, can we put a pause on it?"

Eve tilted her head curiously but nodded, sitting back and turning fully towards him.

"It's a lot," Chung explained, "I just don't want you to… laugh or anything."

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. I'm just ashamed… of all of it, really. I… understand you had a meeting last week with investors-our investors. We were counting on at least some of them staying with us to help fund our projects but now… my personal project is delayed. On top of that the whole 'dating' thing we have going on is great and all but I just… feel torn about it all. Yes, its helping me improve my social skills, in general, but I feel so anxious about the end of this month that I can't focus on anything else. And to add icing to the cake: apparently there's this image floating around with us during our date at the mall. No one can confirm it's you, but that just makes me a lot more self-conscious about what people would think if they knew I was with someone-not to mention the repercussions when they find out that that someone is you."

"Oh…" Eve muttered, taking in everything Chung said. She appeared to be deep in thought. Thankfully, she didn't gloat over the fact that Altera stole Hamel's investors. In fact, Eve looked more worried for Chung upon hearing all this. She shifted away from him, pulling her legs up to her chest as she watched the raindrops cascade off the glass walls around them. "I'm sorry for putting you through all of that."

"You're not fully to blame. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like what we were doing together."

Eve didn't say anything further and seemed to be stewing in her own guilt. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes, her lips held an almost indiscernible pout.

"I'm having a lot of fun. Really, I am. That's… one of the major reasons why I've been upset these past few days: it's knowing that, with everything that's happened between us, I've never felt more loved and cared for in my life," Chung let out a long, wistful, sigh. He leaned forward in his seat, eyes focused on the drops of water splashing on the sidewalk. His voice began to crack. "And it hurts knowing that it's all fabricated."

"Chung…" Eve whispered.

"There. I said it," Chung continued, his eyes glued to the floor as he spoke, "I know that what we have is only temporary, and that I'm not supposed to be feeling like this, but I can't help it, okay? I don't want this to end. I mean it, with every fiber of my being: please stay with me. Even if for just a little bit longer, I just want you to stay with me."

He didn't look at her.

He was afraid to.

Eve must have been shocked to hear such a pitiful confession like that. What were his chances of her saying yes, anyways? She was the daughter of Altera, after all. She had potential suitors practically vying for her hand. She had no reason to choose him… not when there were others far better than him.

Someone's phone buzzed. From the corner of his eye he could see Eve's phone display light up with the name "Mr. Edward Grenore" on screen.

Eve shifted in her seat and he leaned back to let her reach for her phone.

She did no such thing, however.

Instead, she stood, moving over him and straddling his lap. Any intention of picking up the phone was missing as Eve pulled on the towel that they were using as a blanket. She took it for herself as she sat facing him.

They were close. Very close.

She draped the towel over Chung and herself.

"Eve…? What are you doing?"

"Making sure no one sees this."

"Sees what?"

Shrouded under the thin cloth, he looked up at her, into those sharp golden eyes as they looked longingly into his. Within those pools, he saw what he could only define as sadness-the look of something that was never meant to be. In those pools, he knew her answer to his confession. He knew that she had already made up her mind long before she even decided to play this game:

They weren't meant to be.

Eve closed her eyes, blotting out all sense of future events to come and forcing Chung to focus on the here and now. He could feel the warmth of her body against his, the heat of her breath against his lips.

It didn't take a book for him to know what she wanted. He leaned forward, their lips meeting in a soft, bittersweet kiss.

In that moment, Chung didn't care about who saw them together. He didn't care about whether or not this counted as time-out or whether this was all fabricated.

All he cared about was his fleeting sense of hope... that this would be enough to convince her to stay.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry for grammar/spelling errors if you found any (I'm sure there's at least one comma error hidden in there somewhere). But yes, this chapter is a bit longer than I intended it to be but that's just how the story played itself out. I hope you enjoyed! Leave feedback if you want! It always makes me happy!**


	4. Chapter 4

The end card of her slide appeared. The presentation went perfectly. Her peers applauded her and, even though their faces were blasted by the bright projector light at the far end of the room, Eve could tell they were impressed by her thorough business plan. From the corner of her eye she could see the professor smiling and marking his grading sheet in approval.

"I think… you need to work on your body language."

"Excuse me?" Eve blinked. She squinted through the projector light as she stepped off the stage.

"Although your presentation was thorough, it just felt… robotic."

Eve could just make out the speaker's blond locks of hair.

"Robotic?" Although she didn't outright look it, she felt incredibly annoyed to be criticized over something she had rehearsed countless of times.

"Your expression doesn't match your tone. When I'm looking at you, it feels like you're hiding something. I get that you keep a static look on your face all the time... but here, I can't help feeling like I'm getting scammed into something. If you don't do the face thing, then at least let your body express it."

Now he was directly attacking her. How dare he!

Eve stood over Chung's desk, indignation welling in her chest. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the people around her.

"You can't say that about Ms. Nasod!" a student fired back.

"She has a beautiful face!" another agreed.

"A pretty face has nothing to do with it," Chung sighed. He stood, meeting Eve at eye level before moving to take the stage, himself.

"Stupid favoritism," Chung grumbled under his breath as he passed. "Honestly if beauty is all it takes to make it in this business, I'd be ashamed to call myself a businessman."

Eve watched the heir to Hamel take the stage, fists clenched tightly after being insulted like that. What did he know about making it in the business world? He was a shut in; a nobody that kept to himself. When did he suddenly have the right to stand as her equal?

She touched her face, running her fingers over her cheekbones as she thought about what he said. Her father had taught her that the worst thing you'd want to do in any proposition was to show your hand through facial expressions. If people could read you like a book then that would only hurt your end of the bargain when it came to settling on deals.

Her eyes fixated on the young man on stage. She watched as he set up his notes and opened his slide show. What did he know about business? She'd pick his presentation apart.

At least… that's what she wanted to do.

His presentation was… average. Below, even. It was too altruistic. There was no real benefit to his company and put the other party's concerns first. As it stood the proposition Mr. Seiker made would result in an overall net loss in profits. He needed guidance if he were going to make it as a future CEO.

But Eve wasn't able to keep focus. Mr. Seiker's words continued to ring in her head. She wanted to prove how stupid his critique was; to show that this nobody had no right to tell her how her expression was off.

Yet… she couldn't do that.

On stage what she saw was a young man, nervous and vulnerable, in front of his peers. She saw his anxiety; his fear of being on stage as he stuttered through his initial first slides. Baby steps at first. His initial start was slow. Enough to prompt the professor to tap his watch to warn him to speed things up.

Then Eve saw that growing sense of confidence in his posture as he grew accustomed to being on stage. It was his first time on stage and, though his presentation was basic, at best, she saw the energy of a boy finding his stride.

She saw the excited gleam at his ideas-despite how ridiculous they were-and ambition as he drew out his road maps. At least she thought it was his road maps. She wasn't paying attention to the slides, anymore… she was paying attention to him. It was like watching a child grow into a young man in those few fleeting moments of being in the spotlight.

And then it was over. Everything that happened in the presentation had blown past her like a flash of a camera. She missed it all, yet the image of the flash was burned into her retinas. What was his presentation about? She couldn't recall. But as he stood there, sighing in relief at finally getting it over with, she couldn't help but sigh, too. She saw him smile. It was genuine. Beautiful.

Her heart skipped a beat.

* * *

"_Hello. How are you?"_

Chung could see Eve's message on his display screen. Since earlier that week, Eve had started texting him during the day-even during work hours. Chung didn't mind. However, to remain completely inconspicuous when looking through his phone during the day, he set Eve's picture to a monster truck.

Chung completed his last rep and reached for his phone to text back. It was the 18th on a Friday; the start of another weekend.

"_Just finished working out. Get home safely?"_

"_Yes. I've only arrived moments ago. Changing out of my work clothes."_

"_Nice! Glad you're safe."_

"_You work out a lot."_

"_Yeah. It's usually what I do before settling in for the evening. Gimme a minute. Gonna clean up and get dinner ready."_

"_Can I see?"_

Chung tilted his head at the request.

"_See… what? My resistance machine?"_

"_You."_

"_A picture of me…? Like… how? Just a normal picture?"_

"_Yes."_

Chung scratched his head at the request, unsure of how exactly to go about taking a selfie for Eve. It was such a random request that he felt lost on how-

He received an image and nearly dropped his phone as the picture rendered on his screen.

It was a selfie taken from a top-down angle of Eve sitting on her bed. She was dressed in her white business blouse with the first three buttons undone… and nothing else.

At least that's what it looked like at first glance. After summing up the courage to look at Eve's picture more thoroughly, he noticed the finer details of the photo. From the angle of the picture, Chung could just barely make out the pink shorts that could be seen peeking out from under the hem of her top. Regardless of whether or not she was wearing anything from the waist down, however, Chung still got an eyeful of her long, smooth, legs.

Eve was giving Chung a coquettish side-eye. Her thumb and index finger crossed to form a heart in her hand. At the center of the picture, over most of the unbuttoned segment of her top, was a text box conveniently working as a censorship bar with a simple message:

"_Like this."_

She had really nice legs. Chung couldn't deny that that was one of her most alluring assets... apart from her hips and her hair… and her eyes.

And her lips…

The thought of setting this as her photo on his phone crossed his mind.

Chung shook his head as he found himself staring at the picture a little too long. All the while a second message popped up on his screen.

"_Also, what are you having for dinner? :)"_

She was definitely playing coy. In the spirit of this he thought to return the favor. He hung his towel on his shoulder and switched to the camera app on his phone. Pausing for a moment to fix his hair, Chung held up two fingers and smiled for the camera, making sure to capture everything from his waist up.

He snapped a picture and gave it a quick look over before sending. The black tank top left little to the imagination with how it hugged his chest and his arms and shoulders-normally hidden under the layers of business attire-well toned from years of proper care. There was a subtle gleam on his skin-sweat from exercise. That was a nice touch.

On a text box set around his chest on the photo he answered her question:

"_Omurice."_

Satisfied, Chung sent the photo and waited for a reply.

Eve sent him a sticker of a cute little character with an onion for a head, drooling.

Chung laughed and texted back.

"_That's towards the food, right? ;)"_

Since that moment at the bus stop last week, Chung and Eve had been a lot more open with flirting with one another. Granted, although it only really happened through text, it was a step in the right path, at least for Chung.

Chung had asked her to stay with him. He wanted her to forget about this month-long game they were playing and turn it into something real. He knew it was going to be a long shot, making that proposition to someone as beautiful as Eve. Yet, he still confessed to her. He wanted it all out there just so he wouldn't have any regrets after all was said and done.

And then Eve kissed him.

Eve never gave him a straight answer after that and, frankly, Chung didn't want to know. The look in Eve's eyes, moments before their lips met, was confusing to say the least. She knew it wasn't going to happen. She knew this fake relationship was exactly that: fake.

But if that was so… why did she go that far?

Why did her kiss feel so genuine?

Chung had spent the better half of the week that followed mulling over it; trying to read into the true meaning of what she did. He could ask her. But over text? No. He wanted to do it in person. But, given their social status and work, their time, realistically, was limited to only weekends… Tomorrow was a weekend, though, so maybe-

His phone dinged.

"_Can I come over tomorrow?"_

His eyes lit up at the question.

"_Sure. Is there anything you want to do?"_

"_I want to see you…"_

"_Aw. I want to see you, too. :)"_

"_And try your cooking. Something spicy, please. Thank you."_

* * *

Chung stirred from his sleep as the warm morning rays bled through the blinds right into his eyes. He groggily rolled over, staring at the window, and wondering what he ever did to it to earn its ire.

He needed to pee.

He stumbled out of bed and padded his way to the living room. Eve was sitting on the couch with the TV on the morning news. He waved at her, sleepily, and she waved back as he shuffled his way to the bathroom to do his business.

Chung stared at the mirror, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as the water ran when it suddenly occurred to him that he wasn't quite alone in his apartment anymore.

The door to the bathroom flew open as he quickly poked his head out back into the living room, eyes wide open and staring at the back of Eve's head as she kept her attention glued to the TV.

"Good morning," Eve said, not facing her boyfriend, "I… didn't know you slept in your underwear."

Silence on Chung's end.

"I always imagined you to be more the pajama type."

Still nothing.

"N-not that I imagined what you'd be wearing at night. I mean, I did. That's how I came to the conclusion but-"

She glanced at Chung from the corner of her eye and still found him standing at the doorway to the bathroom. She let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"I'm sorry for coming in unannounced."

It was at this point that Chung finally found his voice.

"How did you-?"

"The ajumma remembered me when I passed by the office downstairs. She took me to your room."

"Yes… but how-"

Eve held up her phone. His door code had been saved on her notepad.

"You gave me the code when I first visited… remember?"

"How long have you been sitting there?" Chung asked, looking at the clock hung at the kitchen wall. 8:35AM

"For about an hour. I knew you'd still be asleep and I didn't want to wake you," she stole another glance at Chung before forcing herself to look at the TV, once more, "Are you… going to get changed? Or should I get used to seeing you in your underwear?"

"Oh… oh! Right!" the young man slipped out of the bathroom and back to his room, while Eve made sure to look in the exact opposite direction.

* * *

"So why'd you come over so early?" Chung, who was now fully dressed in sky blue shorts and a white shirt, flopped on the sofa seat next to Eve. She was hugging one of the couch cushions and reading through the back label of a video game.

Eve was dressed a black top and denim shorts. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail and her sunglasses and cap, as well as a small grey backpack, sat on the coffee table. Her look was simple, but Chung felt it was nice seeing the less formal side of his girlfriend.

"I wanted to see you," Eve said. Despite this, her eyes remained on the text on the back of the case. Chung's brow furrowed as he noticed the slight red, puffiness in her golden eyes.

"Eve… is everything oka-"

"Allergies," Eve said, turning her head away and quickly wiping her eyes. She turned back to Chung and handed him the game case, "Let's play this together. If you win, I'll give you points. If I win, I'll minus points."

Chung stared at the game then back at Eve. Her face was as hard to read as ever, but there was no denying what he had seen.

Eve had been crying.

* * *

"Chung. You're not even playing fair at this point," Eve grumbled as she stared at another defeat screen.

"What can I say? I want my points back," Chung grinned.

"Minus points."

"What? Why?"

"You're supposed to let your girlfriend win," Eve huffed.

"But then I'd lose points!"

"You're losing points now."

"How am I supposed to gain any?!"

Eve turned away, an audible "hmph" escaping her lips. "Oh… it's almost lunch time."

"Is it really…?" Chung looked at the clock, again, and saw that it was ten minutes to noon.

"I lost track of time," Eve said, picking up her phone on the coffee table. Chung caught a brief glimpse of her display as she held the phone away from him. Apparently she had missed a number of texts and calls.

"I suppose you want me to cook something for you, then?"

"It might have to wait until tomorrow."

"Huh…?"

"I have to go home. People are beginning to wonder where I am," she stood and unzipped her backpack, pulling out what appeared to be a business dress, before stuffing her sunglasses and hat in the bag. She made her way to his bedroom, reaching for the handle "Mind if I use your room to change-"

Chung rose out of his seat, "No! I mean-yes! I mind!"

Eve paused, hand on the knob as a look of curiosity appeared in her eyes. She was a mere twist of the handle away from going into his room… and Chung was at her mercy in that moment. Yet she relented, stepping away and sighing. "Sorry. Can I use your bathroom, then?"

"Yes… yes, that's fine."

Her change to her new set of clothes was quick. Before he knew it, she was already at the apartment entrance, waiting to be seen off.

"So can I visit, again, tomorrow?" Eve asked as she slipped on her shoes.

"If you tell me what's going on," Chung replied, looking over her normal outfit. It looked like she just came out of work. Or some kind of important meeting. He even noticed the slight shade of lipgloss on her lips. "I'm not going to simply ignore what you're going through. I want to help."

Eve's normally static expression softened at that. Her brow furrowed and her lips curved into an almost indiscernible pout. She extended a hand towards him, gently running her fingers down his cheek and along his jawline.

"You're a good person, Chung," Eve sighed.

"Tell me," he said sternly, "Please."

"I… I can't," She slung her backpack over her shoulder, "I'll see you tomorrow? I'll be free all day."

He wanted to tell her no. Chung wanted to put his foot down and tell her that unless she started telling him what was going on, he wouldn't let her in. But the look in her eyes… she needed to be here. She needed to be with him.

At least… that's what he'd like to believe.

"Sure. See you tomorrow, Eve."

* * *

"Minus points."

"So do I gain points for winning or do I lose points?" Chung asked as he tacked another tally mark on victories so far.

"It's just frustrating. That's all," Eve said, setting down her controller, rather than throwing it down.

"You're not using your character's spring step at all. That's what gives her an edge over the others. You HAVE to use her mobility and go for catches you know you can make."

"But your character has that stupid cannon."

"He has limited ammo. You just have to count and bide your time for when he has to reload."

"But your reloads are so fast."

"Then you have to be faster."

Eve groaned, leaning forward and curling into a ball.

Chung laughed, getting an angry side-eye from Eve as she looked at him from her curled position.

"It's okay, Eve. Here," he handed her her controller, once more. She took it and he wrapped an arm around her, setting his hands over hers.

"Chung…?"

"We'll set up a practice dummy. I'll show you the basic input for her movesets."

"...Okay," she spoke in a whisper.

"It takes a lot of practice to use her… but, after a few days, I'm sure you'll get it."

Her hands were smaller than his. He had to be careful not to pinch her fingers when showing her how to perform the specific maneuvers.

She also smelled nice. It was sweet. Alluring. Like cherries.

In all honesty, Chung thought she looked adorable when she was frustrated and he wanted a reason to hug her. And judging by the way she was staring at him instead of the screen, he didn't think she objected. He wasn't looking at the screen, either.

It had been a week since their lips last met. But the sensation still burned strongly in his mind. Hers were soft-electrifying. He tasted the hint of cherry from her lip gloss.

"Eight more days," he thought, hoping with all of his heart that this was enough for her to forget what he constantly kept at the back of his mind, "Just eight more days."

* * *

It was strange having Eve visit on a weekday. He always thought their time spent together was strictly limited to weekends, yet here she was, on a Tuesday, watching him cook kimchi-jjigae for two.

He initially wanted to make something more elaborate for their first homemade dinner together. But, given how unexpected her visit was, this was all he could scrounge together at the last minute. At least it was spicy.

"Do you cook at all?" he asked her as he laid out two bowls and poured the pot's contents into the bowls.

Eve shook her head, "Never had a reason to, since we have our own chef."

"You have your own chef? That's fancy."

"You don't?"

"That's how I learned how to cook," Chung said with a shrug. He set the bowl on the table and they sat across from each other.

"Wow," Eve said. Chung wasn't sure if she was admiring the presentation or if she was pitying it.

"Try it first before you say anything," Chung warned, "Not sure if it's how you like it."

Eve took the soup spoon and brought the red soup to her lips, blowing it before carefully sipping it.

"It's good."

"Yeah?"

"Spicy."

"That's what you asked for."

"A good amount of spice."

"That's good to hear," Chung smiled, sipping on his soup.

"Can I stay over, tonight?"

The hot soup went down the wrong pipeand Chung coughed.

"What?" he heaved, raising a hand to stop Eve who was already moving to grab him a glass of water, "W-what did you say?"

"I… wanted to know if you'd let me stay over your place for the night," Eve dipped her head in a little bow, "I'm sorry for dropping this on your lap at the last minute, all the time."

Chung continued to cough as he tried to process her request. She wanted to stay over at his place? The most pressing question in his head was "why?" but given how evasive she had been last weekend, he doubted he'd get an answer.

"I also brought my own change of clothes and towel and such. I don't mind sleeping on the couch. If not, that's fine, too. I can probably find a hotel-"

"You can stay."

Eve looked up, surprise in her eyes as she looked as if she were mentally preparing to find another place to stay for the night.

"Don't look so surprised," Chung said, scratching his nose and forcing a smile, "It's a boyfriend's job to help their partner out, right?"

"Chung…" Eve bowed, again, relief washing over her.

"Don't worry about it," he waved, dismissively, "Just eat. Your dinner's getting cold."

* * *

"This is your room?" Eve whispered.

"Don't laugh," Chung sighed, flicking on the lights.

Eve's eyes were immediately greeted by shelves and shelves of complex figurines. The statuettes covered every available space around the bedroom. Every open wall had a poster slapped onto it. Upon closer inspection, the dozens and dozens of jagged-shaped figurines depicted space-faring ships and mechs.

"So you like animation?" Eve asked, walking past each display of collectibles. Not a speck of dust could be seen on them and she noted the quality of each build.

"Giant robot ones, specifically, yes," Chung muttered, a bit ashamed of showing Eve his dorky model collection.

A tiny desk sat opposite of the bed with an incomplete plastic model still under construction.

"Did you… make all of these?"

"Most of them, yes. Others I bought at conventions."

Eve paused at a particular figurine of a blue-haired girl in a white, skin-tight, space suit. She had a very reserved pose, yet the outfit did little to hide show off her curves. In fact, upon stepping back, she realized the whole shelf was filled with an entire collection of female figures from different animations.

Eve's face scrunched at the female figurines. "Did you build these one?"

"N-no! I bought them!" he wasn't lying, but at this point he wasn't sure if it was better to tell her the truth or to lie about how he got a hold of the model.

"I'm not judging you for it," Eve said, judgingly, before quietly moving on.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, then you can stay on the couch instead like you suggested."

"No," Eve said as she approached the twin-sized bed and ran her hand along the thin summer sheets, "I don't mind your hobby. I just didn't expect it from you, is all. Thanks for offering me your room to stay in."

"Really…? You don't mind all this stuff?"

Eve shook her head, "No. I'm happy to learn about this little bit about you. I never would've guessed the heir of Hamel was a closet nerd."

"You make it sound like it's embarrassing saying it like that…"

"You're the one making it sound embarrassing. You're my boyfriend. This is what makes you 'you'."

"Y-yeah," Chung sighed, still unable to shake the embarrassment fluttering in his chest. "You're right."

"And..." Eve's voice trailed off as she took a seat on his bed. Her lips moved as she whispered something almost inaudible:

"_Joh-ahae."_

He blinked, his heart skipping a beat.

She just said that she liked him.

He stared at the young woman with downcast eyes. She looked up at him, and Chung, in that brief moment, saw that same look in her eyes. The very same when she was trying to focus all of her attention into reading the back of a video game case.

His defensive mechanism kicked in and he immediately sought to play the ignorance card. He tilted his head innocently as he uttered a very forced "...a-and?"

The look disappeared in Eve's eyes and she shook her head. "Good night, Chung."

He put on the best smile he could for her, one that barely contained his ecstatic gleam in his eye. He pulled the door shut for her, giving her a rather unceremonious bow before leaving. "Good night, Eve."

* * *

"You're crying, aren't you?" Eve whispered, a tone of comic disbelief in her voice.

"No…" Chung said. His voice was muffled by the couch cushion.

"This movie has a happy ending. I assure you."

"But the dog died!" Chung wailed, burying his face in the pillow in an attempt to hide his face, "It's not a happy ending if the dog died!"

"This movie isn't as sad as that one drama we watched together a few weeks ago. You didn't cry at that one, right?"

"No…" he lied.

"Then you can handle this one, surely!"

"Yeah… Yeah," Chung nodded, his puffy eyes focusing on the television, "I can handle it."

He couldn't.

Chung was a weeping mess and Eve did her very best to restrain herself from giggling. The alcohol didn't help and there were times when, in between rounds of their games, Eve would turn away to hide her chuckling while Chung was still moping over the movie's ending.

To cheer Chung up, Eve decided to add drinking rules to their fighting game. Loser had to take a shot of soju.

This was their Friday.

Three days left.

Eve wasn't available that weekend. She said she had a future business partner to deal with.

Originally they had planned on stopping by the Hi, Life bar as a not-date date but the rain never stopped pouring for the entire day. Their clothes were soaked through by the time they met at the subway stop and, on a whim, Chung and Eve decided to throw out their plans for something simpler. Instead, they quickly bought a few bottles of soju and retreated to Chung's apartment to watch movies and play games while their clothes dried. Since she hadn't brought a change of clothes after work, after a quick shower, Chung lent her a simple white shirt and a pair of grey basketball shorts that she had to tie tightly around her waist to keep from falling off.

"Are… you sure you want to do that?" Chung asked, knowing full well how she compared, skill-wise, to him in the game. He set the controller in front of her and turned on his gaming system.

"What? Are you scared of losing?" Eve asked.

Chung's brow furrowed. Did she really think she stood a chance?

"Fine. Loser takes a shot. Let's go."

He showed her no mercy. He pulled all the stops and used every cheap trick on the book from spamming cannon balls to resetting the knockdown counter. By the end of the hour Eve was a bottle ahead of Chung in alcohol and its effects was starting to sink in. It wasn't until her ninth shot, however, that Chung started to feel remorse for the poor girl. She was just button mashing at that point, as her combos became sloppy and broken. There was no way she was going to win. Ever. Unless...

"I won," Eve said, disbelief hanging in her voice as she nearly dropped her controller. She stared at the winner screen as her first victory was tallied, "I did it!"

"You did," Chung sighed, taking his "loser's" shot and a bit extra just to keep up with her. He swayed where he sat as he admired the excited glint in Eve's eyes. In her drunken state, Chung took her impaired judgement as an opportunity to stage Eve's moment of triumph.

"Minus points!" Eve announced, pointing her finger at Chung and garnering a defeated sigh on his end.

They looked at each other for a long moment before the two of them burst out laughing.

"So I've been losing points for a while now. How far in the negative am I, exactly?"

"You have thirty five points!" Eve declared after a pause to come up with a number.

"Thirty five," Chung repeated. With all the points he had been losing, he had good reason to doubt her claim.

"Thirty five out of a hundred!"

"Is that so? You gave me like five plus points total. How is it thirty five?"

"It's thirty five. Thirty four now because you lost."

"I see. Of course."

"You're mocking me!"

"I am not!"

"You are! Minus points, again! And to think you were so close to winning a prize."

"You never even gave me a prize list in the first place. I bet you haven't even thought of one yet," Chung said, earning a dizzy glare from Eve.

"I have," Eve stated.

"Oh yeah? What are they, then?"

There was a long pause before Eve began scanning her surroundings. She hadn't thought of a prize list.

"A drink. On me," Eve said, raising a half-filled soju bottle, "Eighty points. That's the lowest."

"Eighty? So like a B? How is that fair?"

"I don't reward average!"

"You realize I'm nowhere near eighty."

"You would be if you had let me win earlier!" Eve hiccuped. She leaned against Chung, giggling as her head dipped against his shoulder, "And… and at ninety… you were going to get a kiss from me!"

"Oh, really," Chung mused, leaning against her as they both stared past the television at the beautiful city lights beyond the window, "But we've been kissing already before that. Is there something special about this one?"

"You don't think my kisses are special?!"

"No, no. I do. Every one of them," Chung sighed. He remembered both of them, the sensation of her lips were forever burned into his memory. If he wanted another one to hold on to, he'd have to earn fifty-seven points.

But he only had two days.

"I think your kisses are special, too, Chung," Eve said, tracing a finger in a circle on the back of his hand. "But this one is special because… it's a prize kiss!"

"Ah, of course," Chung smiled. Eve was well and truly drunk. It was strange. Since he began frequenting the Hi, Life! Bar a year ago, he always knew Eve to be a conservative drinker. She knew her limits and never went past it. Why was she doing so, now?

Well, considering she was safe here, perhaps she found it a good enough reason to go a little crazy with her shots. It would be quite unbecoming of the daughter of Altera to get plastered at a bar. But, even still, he never saw Eve as the heavy-drinking type. He wondered if there were any other reasons-

"Mhm," Eve replied, wrapping her arms around his, "And you know what you would win if you scored a perfect one hundred?"

"No," Chung replied in a sing song tone. His mind wandered to a few possibilities. An extra date, maybe some kind of extension to their dating deadline. That'd be nice.

He was wrong though.

Eve shifted in her seat, pressing her body against his arm. Her breath tickled his ear as she leaned in to whisper something that made Chung go red in the face.

Eve slid away, satisfied with how red his ears were from that. She laid on the couch, giggling in her drunken state as she idly did the math in her head.

"Only sixty-six points to go," she teased.

"You mean sixty-seven points?"

"Can I stay the night, again?" Eve asked dizzily, ignoring his correction.

"I'd prefer it if you did," Chung agreed.

"Oh? Why's that?" Eve asked, her tone shifting as she pulled her legs towards her chest and letting the loose fabric of Chung's basketball shorts ride dangerously high up her thigh. She parted her legs slightly, giving Chung a rather interesting angle up her shorts. He saw skin. A lot of skin. It almost looked as if she wasn't-

Eve cleared her throat, squeezing her legs together and playfully pointing at her face as if saying "my eyes are up here."

Chung looked away. He had been caught red-handed and Eve was reveling in it.

"B-because you can't walk in a straight line," Chung stammered, leaning over and flicking Eve on her head, "Get your head out of the gutter."

"Your head is in the gutter!" Eve replied, "You like my legs, don't you?"

"Ugh…" Chung rolled his eyes at that. She did that on purpose. It was made even more apparent when she started giggling again.

"Back on topic: yes I want you to stay here rather than make a fool of yourself trying to go home in your state."

Eve raised a hand towards him, "Toilet."

"Were you even listening?"

"Toilet!" Eve demanded.

"Yes, your majesty," Chung sighed, lifting her to a sitting position and helping her up off the couch.

"That's queen!" Eve corrected after having her arm thrown over Chung's shoulder. She was dragged out of her seat and towards the bathroom, all the while her legs stumbled to find footing.

"Yes, my queen," Chung responded.

"Oh! I like the sound of that," Eve said as Chung stopped at the door frame. He let her hobble her way to the toilet while using the washing machine and the sink as a support. He shut the door and let her do her business, leaving him some time for himself as he waited for her.

Although it was entertaining to see Eve so far under the influence… he was hoping to spend some quality time with her without alcohol getting in the way. He wanted to talk about their situation. He wanted to remind her about how much fun they both have been having these past few weeks.

He wanted to ask her once more if she would stay with him for a little while longer.

The toilet flushed and the sound of the faucet running could be heard. Chung knocked on the door and she opened it.

"Our laundry is done," Eve said, opening the top-loading lid and nearly falling into the washing machine in the process. Chung caught her just in time, pulling her out along with something black clenched in her hands. Chung wrestled with her to get her into a proper supportable position and slung her arm over his shoulder, taking whatever damp fabric she had clenched in her palm in the process.

He unfolded it, and found himself looking at a pair of lacy black underwear.

"Ah!" Eve shouted, drunkenly taking the fabric and tossing it haphazardly back into the laundry, "What are you doing with my underwear!"

"I told you, I'm going to take care of it, Eve. You're too drunk to function, let alone hang up laundry. For now you're going-"

"To the bedroom, please," his queen ordered.

"Yes, to the bedroom. You got a busy weekend ahead of you and I don't think your future business partner would be pleased seeing you hungover." He took a step and she failed to take hers, nearly falling over in the process.

"Carry me."

"Eve…"

She looked up at him, a pleading look in her eye. A drunken pleading look, but pleading nonetheless. "Please?"

How could he say no to that? Driven by the urge to do as his girlfriend asked, he swept Eve off her feet, carefully carrying her bridal style to the bedroom.

He carefully moved her from the living room towards the bedroom. She reached past the door frame, flicking on the lights for him and he gently laid her down on his bed. He moved to stand but her arms were tightly wrapped over his shoulders.

"You can let go, now," Chung laughed.

He tried again but she refused to release him. Instead she drew him closer, forcing him to sit at her side. She rested her head against his neck, nuzzling him and holding him tightly in her arms.

"...Eve?"

"...I don't want to," she whispered.

Chung sat there, wide-eyed, as a wave of emotions crashed against him. The entire time, Eve continued to hold him. He didn't know what to say, or what to do. All he could do was return her affection, wrapping his arms around her as he felt the beginning of yet another heartbreak.

"Then you can stay," Chung whispered back, "You can stay with me as long as you want… I don't mind at all."

* * *

If there was anything Chung had learned about Eve: it was that she was really good at slipping out of his apartment unnoticed. That was twice, already that he expected to see her off in the morning, only to find an empty, neatly made bed, in Eve's place. Both times, he expected to be awoken by her shuffling around the living room where he slept, but he never heard her getting ready, nor did he hear the apartment door shutting as she left.

The following Saturday morning, Chung found a note resting on his pillow addressed to him:

"_Chung,_

_Went to meet the client. Will be busy all weekend. I'll text you when I have time._

_Eve_

_P.S. Sorry for being a terrible guest last night. I'll make it up to you on Monday."_

With his plan to talk with Eve on Friday completely out the window he had the entire weekend to plan on how Monday would play out. She may have been under the influence last night, but that single moment when she held him in her arms was more than enough reason for him to hang on to that single fleeting hope: she wanted to be with him.

"A necklace would be nice," Helputt suggested as he and his son perused the jewelry store, "You know, when your mother and I were your age, I bought her a golden necklace lined with diamonds."

"Did she like it?" Chung asked, idly as he scanned a collection of bracelet charms.

"No. In fact she scolded me for spending so much money on something like that. Your mother wasn't much for material wealth. But she appreciated the gesture nonetheless."

"So no necklaces… got it," Chung muttered, mentally scratching that out of his list, "So how much money do we need to spend to win someone over, then?"

"Actually that depends on the girl you're buying it for. I mean, you could always just call her over and have her pick herself. I wouldn't mind meeting her," Helputt laughed.

"I know you wouldn't, dad, but… I can't. At least not right now. This gift can either make or break the relationship between us and I can't afford to make a mistake here."

"Chung…" a look of concern filled his father's face. Heavy footsteps followed and the CEO placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "I understand that you may feel a bit desperate when you're trying to win someone's heart, but tacking on a price tag to their love isn't the best way to do it. Think about it… would you want your relationship to be held together by material wealth? Or something stronger like mutual affection and codependence? You don't have to buy her the most expensive jewelry, just get her a gift that means something for the both of you. That was what your mother wanted me to see those many years ago… I hope it's something you can come to terms with, as well."

Chung rubbed his chin in thought as his eyes scanned the remaining collection of rings. His father was right. He couldn't just buy Eve's affection like this. He had to get her something that meant more than just money.

And then a lightbulb went off in his head.

* * *

Monday.

"Sorry for being late," Eve said with an exasperated sigh. Her hair was disheveled and she was out of breath by the time she had reached Chung's apartment.

"Only about an hour," Chung chuckled, though it wasn't hard to show how upset he was about it. He shut the door behind her while she kicked off her work shoes.

"Oh… Chung, really, I'm sorry. It's just… with everything going on on my end, I just couldn't find the time to send you a text or warn you that I was going to be late or…"

"It's fine, Eve. It's okay," Chung waved it off dismissively, putting a smile on as he took her hand and led her to the living room.

The couch had been pushed aside, leaving only the coffee table covered by a checkered dining cloth. Two bowls were set out for while a single gas stove sat at the center with a bubbling jeongol sitting on top of it.

"Chung…"

"I figured you were busy since you hadn't been texting much, so I took that into consideration and made something easy to keep warm while I waited. Do you like bulgogi jeongol?"

"It's been ages since I've sat down and had one," Eve said, taking a seat on the rug.

Chung turned on the television already set for a movie neither of them had seen yet.

"You didn't have to do all of this for me," Eve said as Chung dished out her serving for her and popped a single bottle of soju, "Especially after how I was last Friday."

"But I wanted to. And don't worry about it. I still enjoyed it. I never thought I'd see the day where Ms. Nasod would be piss drunk and knocked out on my bed."

"I sort of let myself go, didn't I?"

"You had a lot on your mind. It's okay to drop the formalities around me. I'd rather you be relaxed than worrying about what to do next whenever we're together-"

Eve leaned forward, planting her lips against his. It was soft… sweet… and never long enough. She pulled away from him, a small smile crossing her lips.

"Thank you," she whispered, "For everything."

Although he appreciated the gesture, Chung couldn't help but feel an ominous chill from her words. It sounded… final.

No. He couldn't lose heart right now. He still had a bit of time. Chung turned his attention to the television and hit the play button, starting the movie before gesturing Eve to dig in.

The movie was a comedy. Chung had wanted something lighthearted to counteract the feeling of dread that had been shadowing him the entire weekend. He wasn't sure if Eve was into comedies since she always suggested serious, heavy handed dramas to watch.

Surprisingly, she seemed to enjoy it. Granted she didn't laugh uncontrollably at certain lines and pitches, but she seemed invested in the overall story. Chung, however, didn't laugh at all. Most of his attention had been set on the young woman sitting next to him. Her hair was still a mess from rushing to see him. Her clothes were wrinkled and it looked like one of her stocking legs was beginning to tear.

He hung on to every tiny detail of her, fearing that this would be the last time he'd ever get to be this close to her if things didn't go as planned. The movie was his timer. By the end of it, he'd give her her gift and ask her to be his girlfriend-not because of some test, or a way to improve his ability to court women-but as his partner.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. In all honesty he had never gotten this far dating a girl to actually ask if they wanted to be with him. In fact, now that he thought about it, Eve sort of just dropped the idea of being his pretend girlfriend on his lap without even giving him a chance to consider the consequences.

For the rest of the movie, Chung had been fidgeting uncontrollably at how to go about asking her to date him. He had spent all day yesterday coming up with the perfect speech that would win her heart, yet the more he thought about it, the more stupid it sounded. By the time the credits were rolling he had already thrown out his entire speech in favor of ad-libbing the whole thing. Now it was a matter of actually coming out and saying it.

"S-so what'd you think of dinner and the movie?" Chung said, finding his voice after nearly two hours of not saying much of anything.

"The food was delicious," Eve commented, taking a shot of soju, "But the movie was a bit silly."

"Right?" Chung forced a laugh a little to hard, feeling as if his movie had greatly hurt his chances at this point, "I just wanted to watch something different for a change. If you don't like comedies, I'll keep that in mind for next ti-"

He cut himself off. Who was he to assume she would watch a movie with him, again? This was their last day, after all. But why did he stop? At this rate he was just going to remind her that today was their last day. Assuming she forgot, of course. They never actually talked about this being their last day. Maybe she did forget.

Eve nodded, looking at the credits as the bloopers reel played alongside it. "Yeah. I don't mind a change in genre. We can watch more comedies if you'd like."

Chung didn't know where Eve was going with this. She didn't exactly say "next time". It wasn't too late in the night so she might've been implying that they watch another movie right now. That or she actually did mean next time. Meaning she wanted to stay with him. That's what she meant, surely, right?

Now he could just give her her gift.

But the timing felt off. He couldn't just change the subject and give her the present.

"W-what didn't you like about the movie then?" Chung asked, trying to bide his time, "Maybe there are comedies you do like."

Eve tapped her chin in thought. "I like a few comedies but I don't really find slapstick to be my favorite. I like jokes with a little more pretense in them. I guess the actual term would be highbrow humour."

"A...ah yeah. I see."

"Don't get me wrong, I like silly comedies, too. The movie you chose was cute and the ending was happy and funny and its overall message was adorable. But I prefer a little more drama to go with my comedy."

"I like drama, too."

"I know you do," Eve said, a small grin crossing her lips as she eyed Chung. Why did it feel like he was being teased?

Eve stretched, leaning back on her arms as she stared up at the ceiling. "And to be frank, the movie was refreshing. Especially after this weekend. It was like this feeling of dread had been shadowing me all Saturday and Sunday."

"I know how that feels," Chung muttered.

"Hm?"

"Nothing. So you had a rough weekend, huh?"

"Yes. I couldn't text you at all."

"Want to talk about it?"

Eve paused at the offer as she looked at Chung from the corner of her eye. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully.

"To an extent… sure."

* * *

Her business partner came from overseas. Her father had taken many steps to make sure their meeting would go as planned. Deals had been struck and contracts had been written up for both parties to agree on. All the while, Eve was tasked with showing their partner around the city, highlighting the many cultural differences from Europe as well as what to expect when merging with their company.

By the sounds of it, none of the contracts had been signed yet, as the foreign party had yet to ascertain the benefits of this major deal they were making. With the amount of money her father had sunk into this meeting, however, it was imperative that Eve convince them to stay.

"And that's why I was late coming to see you," Eve sighed, "They wanted more from our deal so I had to contact my father and gain his approval on rewriting some of it."

"That makes sense," Chung muttered.

"Yes… Tomorrow, we'll be reviewing the contents of the contract once more. With how things have been going, though, I don't think we'll be signing it just yet-"

"Eve!" Chung cut her off suddenly, catching her by surprise.

"Y-yes?"

"I have something for you!" he turned, reaching under the coffee table and pulling out a tiny black box. He saw her golden eyes widen as she immediately knew what was in it. He watched as a hand went over her mouth in shock. "B-before you jump into conclusions… it's not what you think."

He opened the tiny box, revealing a silver ring. A groove was cut in the middle, and was fitted with a small diamond.

"Well… it sort of is, but it's not _that_. It's a promise ring."

"A… promise ring?"

"Yeah. I… didn't know your finger size so it probably doesn't fit. A-and after doing some research I found out that promise rings are actually bought in pairs by the couple as a mutual thing. I couldn't exactly ask you to buy me one, over the weekend so… I just decided to get you one. But if you want to get me one, that'd be cool, too… and-"

"What are you promising me…?"

Chung's mouth opened but he couldn't find his voice. There were a million things he wanted to say. His hands were shaking. Why wouldn't his hands stop shaking? Eve noticed this and as her eyes met with Chungs, he knew she saw how scared he was. He was scared she was going to reject him. But he had come this far, already. He'd look only more stupid if he didn't say anything.

"To always be there for you. Through thick and thin. That's what couples do, right?"

Eve drew in a sharp breath and, in that brief moment, Eve's eyes began to well.

"Chung… I can't accept this."

He felt his heart sink. Although he knew it was a long shot to begin with, it still didn't make the moment any less painful.

"It's because we're rivals, right?"

She shook her head, "It's a lot more complicated than that."

"Is it this Edward Grenore person?"

Just the mere utterance of his name caused Eve to wince.

"H-how did you-" Eve began.

"I saw his name on your phone a few times over the week. I can connect the dots. It makes sense, considering how you've acted the past two weeks. He's the future business partner you've been hosting this weekend, too, isn't he?"

"Yes…"

"He's… more than just a business partner, too, isn't he?"

Eve sighed, holding herself tightly as she seemed to shiver at the thought.

"He's my fiancé."

"Do you love him?"

Eve didn't need to answer. The look of listlessness on her face was enough.

"Why don't you call it off?"

"Because I am the daughter of Altera… and only child of a traditionalist father. I have no say on the matter and my ultimate purpose is to carry on the bloodline and to one day bear a son to run the company."

"That's horrible…"

"I may have men vying for my hand in marriage… but that doesn't mean I have the freedom to choose. Which was why I wanted to keep what we had a secret."

"Not because we were rivals?"

Eve shook her head.

"Because you're not one of my father's hand-picked suitors," she held herself tighter, "He'd be furious if he learned I was breaking tradition."

"Then why did you set up this game between us in the first place?"

Her golden eyes met with his and, in that moment, Chung understood her real intentions.

"Maybe I didn't want it to be a game in the first place," she whispered.

Chung was speechless and Eve continued.

"I know I haven't been fair to you Chung. I… also owe you an answer."

He blinked, "An answer?"

"The night this all started... you said I had high standards. I told you I had specific standards… I also said I'd tell you what they were once you indulged me about your recent date."

"Ah… yeah I remember this-"

"The truth is," Eve blurted out, catching Chung by surprise by the sudden outburst, "You're my-"

An alarm sounded, pulling both of them out of the moment. It took Chung a few seconds to realize that both of their phones were ringing.

Eve's eyes went wide in realization and Chung silently reached into his pocket to turn off the alarm. Eve reached for her bag, pulling out her phone and stared at the display screen.

From where Chung was sitting, he could see that it was just after 10pm. "End of event" was on display in big white letters.

That was it. It was over.

She shut off the alarm and quietly set the phone down on the table. For a long moment, neither of them said anything. Only the ticking of the clock could be heard from the kitchen.

Chung was trembling where he sat. Surely it wasn't over, was it? It was just too sudden for her to suddenly end things. There had to be a grace period. After all, she even said-

"Mr. Seiker?"

"Yes?"

"May I stay the night at your place? I don't think I'll be able to make it home before the subways close."

"I… wouldn't want you to wander alone at night, anyways," Chung mumbled. Chung could feel a weight in his stomach beginning to form as the formalities in her speech began to resurface. "You can use my room if you want."

She rose from her seat and straightened her skirt, "Is it alright if I use your shower?"

"Yeah... Do you need me to get you a change of clothes, too…?"

A pause.

"No..." her voice cracked as she spoke but the tone spoke volumes of her intent: the game was over.

Without another word Eve padded her way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and leaving Chung alone in the living room.

He stared at the ring box that lay opened at his side, its contents were spilled on the floor. He picked it up, placing the ring back in its slot and setting it on the table.

It was strange. Up until now, he had always been rejected by his dates. He should have been used to this by now.

But why did it still hurt so much?

He didn't know what to do now. Eve made it abundantly clear she had no intention of continuing this relationship any more.

No. He couldn't accept this. Eve even expressed how she never intended for it to be a game. He just had to talk it out with her. Maybe they could find some sort of compromise.

The shower stopped running.

Maybe, after she comes out, she'll at least talk to him about everything. Maybe then, he can straighten out these emotions running rampant in his chest.

He hoped that was the case.

He hoped that, if she just sat down and talked to him, he could at least get some answers.

The bathroom door opened and Chung immediately straightened his posture. He didn't dare look at her. He felt that if he looked at her he'd dash away his chances of convincing her to stay.

He listened as her footsteps padded out of the bathroom. They wandered along the living room and paused… at his bedroom.

"Good night," Eve muttered.

His bedroom door closed with a resounding click. Silence, once more.

Minutes ticked by and he could feel himself sinking deeper and deeper into this inescapable hole.

It was over.

It was really over.

No!

It can't be over.

He stood and made his way to his room, stopping himself from grabbing the handle and instead knocking lightly on the door.

"...Yes?" Eve's voice sounded close.

"Eve…" He took a deep breath, all his emotions culminating to this one single phrase, "I don't want to let you go."

He waited for a reply. An eternity passed and he was afraid that she wouldn't even be there if he opened the door.

And then the door opened.

She hadn't moved and was still in her towel.

In her eyes he didn't see sadness. Instead, through those puffy golden orbs, he saw a look he had been very familiar with the past two weeks.

"I don't want to leave, either," she whispered, reaching out and grabbing Chung by the collar.

It was the fleeting sense of hope; that rush of defiance and complete disregard of consequences. And although her face didn't express it well, her eyes and body spoke volumes for her.

She pulled him into the bedroom and Chung offered little resistance as he shut the door behind him.

* * *

His alarm went off and Chung instinctively slapped the snooze button just as the Tuesday morning broadcast began to play on his radio. He rolled onto his side, covering his head with the pillow as he sleepily tried to get a few more minutes of sleep.

As he hid under his pillow he caught the faintest scent of cherries on the fabric.

His eyes flew open and he sat up with a start, pulling at the covers in hopes of finding her still there.

Eve was gone.

Like the other two nights she stayed over she managed to sneak out of his apartment without waking him.

Still holding on to the idea that she might still be nearby, he hopped out of bed, pulling on his underwear and shorts before stumbling out onto his living room.

He was alone. No one was in the bathroom, all of his lights were still on, and the food from last night still remained on the coffee table.

Chung leaned against the doorframe, banging the back of his head lightly against the surface until his eye caught something white peeking out from under the ring box on the coffee table.

He squinted, crossing the floor to the table and picked up his gift and a folded up piece of paper addressed to him in Eve's handwriting.

He unfolded the note as a small business card fell to the floor. Ignoring this he sat on the floor and read the letter.

_Mr. Seiker,_

_Today concludes your assessment and I am proud to declare that your aptitude in courting women has improved drastically since we began. While I've never doubted your potential, I knew that it would require a bit of pushing on my end to bring out what I felt was the best part about you: being yourself. You really are a wonderful person, Chung. You're sensitive, caring, and you always put the concerns of others over yourself. You don't find a lot of that anymore… especially when most people of our class only care about the business end of things. I'm happy that I, at least, had the opportunity to be a part of that experience._

_When you find that special someone, I want you to remember that you don't need rules from a book or graphs telling you how to treat someone right. Just be you. You'll win their hearts easily… like you did with me._

_With that, I wish you well. I'd say that I'd want to keep in touch but, given our circumstances, keeping in contact is ill-advised. I still want you to know that the month we had together is something I'll never forget. I just hope it is the same for you._

_Regards,_

_Eve Nasod_

_P.S. I… know I sort of cheated the system and gave you the first and second prize already, but… I hope you enjoy your prize, regardless. 84 points is your total! Don't spend it all in one place!_

Chung folded the letter. His eyes focused on the small business card detailing Eve's contact information and he picked it up. Flipping it over revealed a crudely drawn bottle of wine popping its cork with the words "I. O. U. 1 free drink at the Hi, Life Bar!" written in big letters.

The son of Hamel laid on the floor, holding up the business card as his vision began to blur.

"Eve…" he whispered, resting an arm over his eyes as he fought the urge to cry.

His alarm in his room went off, once more, and he suddenly remembered it was only Tuesday.

He really didn't feel like going to work.

* * *

**A/N: Big thanks to Aevari and Tin for the feedback and edits! I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it! Feedback and comments welcome. ****Cover done by Elpheart! Check them out here: **** w elpheart/**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: :3**

* * *

"Good evening. Your usual seat, sir?" the cashier asked with her practiced smile.

Chung nodded, turning his attention to the tables that lined the windows overlooking the cityscape. Save for the few patrons that occupied a couple tables they were largely empty.

"She's not here, today, either, sir," the cashier said.

"I… see," Chung muttered.

"Which is good news for you, isn't it?"

He didn't answer.

"Unless… you were hoping to see her all this week?"

"Yeah… I have been."

The cashier put a hand over her mouth as she quickly jumped to the most obvious conclusion.

"I'll be going to my seat, now," Chung said, reminding the cashier to signal for a busboy to clean up his table.

"Do you want me to let her know you've been looking for her?"

He waved the gesture off, "Nah, don't worry about it. The last thing I'd want is for her to think I'm drowning myself in booze every night."

He took off his coat and sat down at his favorite chair while the busboy dropped off a pan of the edible styrofoam.

"Just a beer tonight, again."

"Yes, sir."

A bottle was carefully set at his table and Chung twisted the cap off and leaned back in his seat as a deep sigh escaped his lips. He took one, long swig, nearly downing the entire bottle before setting it aside.

It was a Monday.

For seven days Chung had been dropping by the Hi, Life! Bar, even going as far as stopping by during the busy weekends, in hopes of running into her. Every day after work he hurried straight here… and waited until ten in the evening before calling it quits and heading home for the night.

She never came.

He hoped she would have… at least once. But she had a business partner to attend to-a fiancé.

Chung reached into his front pocket and fished out a small, white business card. The words "I. O. U. 1 free drink at the Hi, Life Bar!" were written on the back with a poorly drawn bottle popping its cork.

He grunted, tossing the card lazily onto the small table next to him.

"You're not being fair," he muttered, letting his head fall back and staring at the ceiling, "How am I supposed to redeem it if I'm never going to see you, again?"

"I could always pay on her behalf," a voice said, startling him as he turned to the source.

Wavy red locks of unkempt hair was the first to catch his eye but that was all he needed to see to know who it was.

He stood directly behind him dressed in a navy blue and highlight-yellow roadworker's uniform. Judging by the tar-stained boots, he had been off of his shift for some time. Eve's business card in hand as he read over the voucher. "One free drink, huh? No big deal."

"Elsword?" Chung blinked, "What are you doing here?"

Someone else was standing behind him and it didn't take a genius to figure out who with the purple hair peeking out just over his best friend's shoulder.

Chung slumped slightly upon realizing.

"Hey, Aisha."

The purple-haired girl perked at the call of her name and she leaned out, waving shyly at Chung

"H-hey, Chung. Long time no see."

"What are you two doing here?" Chung asked, again, no longer feeling like talking to the two, especially with Aisha around.

"We were… were just decided to do a little... bar hopping!" Aisha said.

"On a Monday?" Chung cocked a brow at her.

"Ah… er… well," Aisha stammered. If there was anything he learned about dating Aisha, it was that she was a terrible liar. With all the stammering and trying to cover for herself in the single date that he went on with her, he knew it wouldn't work out. Even if he believed what she said, the fact that she was still in her lab coat showed that she had come here straight after work either.

"We came here to see you, buddy," Elsword said, putting on that charismatic smile even Chung couldn't help but admire.

"See me? Why?"

The redhead took the open seat next to Chung while Aisha tentatively walked over and took the only available chair closest to them: Eve's chair.

He wanted to tell her to get off; that he had to leave it open in case Eve decided to show up today. But it had been a week and he was already feeling the urge to simply give up.

"'Cus I've been ghosted by you for almost an entire month. You've been ignoring my calls, Chung. I've been wanting to hang out!"

"Ah… yeah. Sorry for not answering."

"Nah, don't sweat it," Elsword grinned, holding up the card and reading over the contact details at the front end, "I can guess what you've been up to."

Chung snatched the card out of his hands, stuffing it in his pocket and out of Elsword's reach. "It's not what you think."

"I think it is," Elsword smiled.

"Chung… we know you and Eve are seeing each other," Aisha said.

"We're not-" Chung felt his voice rising at that and it hurt knowing he was speaking the truth, "We're not seeing each other. Not anymore."

"We know," Elsword said.

Chung forced out a laugh, shaking his head as he finished his beer. "Word finally got out, then?"

Elsword called for service, signaling the cashier to bring three more bottles. One for each of them and he slid one over to his friend. "Wanna talk about it?"

Chung shrugged, leaning back on his chair and taking the bottle. He stared at the label as if waiting for the beer to answer for him. "I don't know. I don't know what I want to do."

"Sometimes it's just better to vent," Aisha reassured him.

The young man leaned back, sighing and running a hand through his hair, "I don't… even know where to start."

"From the beginning," Elsword said, "You got us to lean on. We'll listen."

Chung sighed, once more, blowing the tuft of hair from his forehead. He looked from Aisha to Elsword. They both looked eager to listen. He relented.

"Alright… fine."

* * *

The small class of ten students eyed the newcomer warily. The room was immediately abuzz with whispers as the young man quickly took his seat at the nearest available desk.

"Who's that guy?"

"We're halfway through the semester and he just shows up in a graduate class?"

"I think that's Seiker's son."

"Did his father pay his son's way to the top?"

"He looks so thin!"

"I heard he's very sickly."

Eve sat in the second row at the very center of class and she could hear the whispers of each university student. They weren't wrong, though. The new student looked pale-as if a stiff breeze would knock him over. She had read articles of Hamel's CEO often referring to his only son as the reason for his hardwork and success. If this was really Hamel's next heir, he seemed too timid to be considered actual competition in the future.

Regardless. If he's hoping to even pass this class he has a lot of catching up to do. The mock exhibition midterm is next week. If he's even worth the passing thought he'd show what he was really made of, then.

* * *

"I'm telling you it's not going to work," Eve argued, "If you used this in an actual trade deal, not only would you lose out overall, you would also set the stage for future exploitation by your partners. You need to stop thinking like this is a charity and understand that everyone is trying to fight for the bigger bargain. The moment you expose yourself as a pushover people will walk all over you."

"So then why are you making me the keynote speaker for our final?" Chung asked, twirling a pen in his fingers, "You said it yourself, I'm awkward to speak to, I'm meek and easily swayed. If either of us should be the keynote speaker it should be you."

"Because you called me robotic."

Chung laughed, snorting loudly before coughing. "You're still upset about that? That was over a month ago."

Eve pouted and Chung's laughter slowly died out. He still didn't get that it's rude to laugh at someone admitting their faults.

Eve ignored it and continued. "You know, I never noticed that part about me. Up until now no one has dared to speak up about my flaws… but since that day, I couldn't get it out of my head. I recited my presentation in front of the mirror and… I have to agree, I'm too stiff. Unlike you."

"Well, like I said, you just gotta work on your body language."

"That's something that will take more than a few days to improve on. It was something I've grown up doing. I can't change in a week. So you be the keynote speaker."

"Um. I don't know if you remember but, I barely passed the midterm," Chung grumbled.

"And it was your presentation skills that saved you, was it not?"

"I honestly think the professor was feeling sorry for me. I heard the other students calling me scrawny, again, too."

"I thought you looked good on stage."

"No you didn't."

"I did, Mr. Seiker. I thought you had a great smile."

"So you really want me to be the speaker?"

Eve nodded, "I do. We'll pass this group final and I'll finally graduate and put my skills to work."

"Ugh… I still got one more year to go," Chung sighed.

"I'll be waiting for you. Don't expect me to pull any punches out in the real world, though."

"What, so we're gonna be business rivals or something?"

"Sort of. If you can shift Hamel's focus to high tech gadgets rather than home appliances, I might just see you as one."

Chung laughed, "Challenge accepted."

* * *

Eve's graduation came on a beautiful spring day. Her family and friends all said their congratulations, leaving her to carry an armful of bouquets and flowers around her neck. Several more of her relatives had appeared with even more graduation gifts in hand and she had to decline on receiving them until later. She excused herself from the crowd to properly stack her gifts in one arm but ended up dropping half of the items at a nearby bench.

"Need help?" a familiar voice said through the wall of flowers blocking her vision. She didn't need to look to see who it was and immediately handed Chung two of her four bouquets.

"Thank goodness you're here, Mr. Seiker," Eve sighed. With her load lightened, she adjusted her cap and gown and checked to see if she still had her diploma on her.

"You invited me. Who was I to turn down an invite from a friend? But, frankly, I just thought you wanted me here so you can gloat."

"I'm getting to that. I'm getting to that," she reassured him with a small, playful, grin, "And I thought you said we were going to be business rivals?" Eve replied, giving him her practiced judgemental eye for when they met in the real world.

"Right… right. Business rivals," Chung chuckled, giving her that smile that she had been looking forward to all day. Even though she had only met him in the later half of the semester, she couldn't deny the sense of freedom she felt when being around him.

Around others, there was this code of conduct they must uphold. She was the daughter of Altera: the future of her father's mighty tech company. It was a position that demanded respect and one she exhaustively received from anyone and everyone… except him.

Of her peers, he was the first to insult her; the first to bring her down a peg and to realize that she was still human. He reminded Eve that not everything was going to be handed to her because of her namesake alone… and she liked that. She liked that, despite this protective bubble around her, there was still someone out there that saw her as a living, breathing, person-not an entity above everyone else.

Chung shuffled idly where he stood. The two of them were quite a ways away from the crowd and she found herself unsure of what to say to him. Thankfully he spoke first. "So this is it, huh?"

"Yes."

"Any plans after today?"

"Work."

"No, I mean right after graduation. Partying? A vacation?"

"You know me, Mr. Seiker. I'm not one to idle for long. There's work to do and I have a company to prove myself to."

Chung shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to relax every now and then. It's not good for your health if you overwork yourself. Just ask me. I've been sick most of my life." He laughed. Eve didn't. His laughter faded and he scratched the back of his head, wanting to say something to her but not quite working up the courage to outright say it. "Can't wait to see you in action out there."

"You still have one more year to go, Mr. Seiker."

"Yeah, I know… I know. But I'll be rooting for you either way."

"And I'll be wishing you luck this coming year, Mr. Seiker."

"I'll be needing it," Chung said, "I won't have you around to whip me into gear."

"I believe you're more than capable of handling the workload yourself."

"Yeah… yeah," Chung sighed. They both stood silently listening to the distant crowds congratulating the graduates. "I'm still going to miss having you around, Eve."

She hid her face behind her flowers, pretending to lose her grip as she readjusted the stacks of gifts in her arms. She didn't know how to respond to that. That was so forward! She cleared her throat, quickly taking the two other bouquets from him.

"Y-yes, well. I'll miss having you around, too. Don't get too lazy or else you'll shame your family name."

"I'll try not to, Ms. Nasod," Chung grinned.

Her family called for her. They were gathering for photos. It looked like her father had hired a professional.

"I have to go," Eve said to her former classmate.

Chung nodded. "Good luck in the future. I'll be right behind you so watch your back!"

"I will!"

* * *

"Father… I am just as capable as any man in running our company! Why can't you see that?" Eve pleaded.

"Are you saying you're just as good as me?!" Adrian turned to his daughter. He was seething with anger, "Who molded you into the woman you are today? Was it not I that taught you everything you know?"

"Father… I didn't mean that! I was only saying-"

"Since this company was founded, Altera had always been led by strong, business-minded men. You already know your grandfather is against it. Why… what would your great-grandfather think of me if I broke that tradition?"

Eve couldn't speak. She knew better than to argue any further with her father. Though it didn't show in her face, Adrian knew he was being hard on his little girl. His expression softened and he approached his daughter, embracing her tightly in his arms.

"Eve… You know I love you dearly. I'd be blind if I couldn't see how strong you are as a businesswoman. But… tradition dictates that a man should run this company. It's what your grandfather wishes for. And I can't deny him that wish."

"Yes, father," Eve mumbled into his chest.

"We'll find you a suitor. Your grandfather has several powerful connections from around the globe. I won't tell him, but I'll let you decide on who to be betrothed to."

"Must I really marry them…?"

"Of course," Adrian smiled, "You need to if you're to bear Altera's future leaders."

* * *

"Adrian," an old, bedridden man called for his son.

"Yes, father?" Adrian hurried through the door, leaving Eve to stand alone in the hospital hallway.

"What's all this talk about rejecting our business partners suitors? I've already received a number of complaints."

"Ah… yes, about that, father…"

The door swung closed.

Good. Eve didn't want to hear more of it. She didn't want to be reminded that she was simply an accessory to a business partnership.

The suitors were all the same: rich, powerful men looking to expand their wallets all while boasting about how much of an asset Altera would be to their future endeavors. They all talked about global expansion-about opening a shop at every corner of the world… It was all business. All the time. None ever bothered to consider Eve's feelings. But then again, it was the family's business. This was her future. This was what she signed up for.

Who was she to ruin tradition for something as insignificant as love?

The door swung open as Adrian backed out of the door, bowing profusely to a disgruntled grandfather.

The door shut and Eve stared up at the stern look on her father's face.

"You have half a year to choose."

Eve faces straight ahead. Closing her eyes, she gave a deep, exasperated sigh.

"Yes, father."

* * *

"Welcome to the Hi, Life! Bar. Is this your first time visiting?" the cashier greeted.

"Yes. I'm just here for a drink," Eve said, rubbing her temples from the headache she was getting. This place had a quieter atmosphere than all the other pubs. Maybe she could actually sort out her options in peace without her father breathing down her neck about it.

"Of course! Of course! Sit anywhere you'd like!"

She took one of the many open seats that lined the picturesque window view as the busboy served her a bowl of chips.

"Somaek, juseyo," Eve said.

"Yes, ma'am," the busboy said and hurried off to get her cocktail.

Her drink was served quickly and she took a sip before reflecting on her choices so far.

Much of her suitors originated from Europe or America and she was starting to see why. If she married one of them, that would greatly increase relations with potential business partners in that region. Altera wouldn't be seen mostly as a korean exclusive brand but something more westernized. A deal like that would cause Altera to explode in popularity, leading to exponential growth in the future.

But she hated her suitors. Every single one of them. They ranged from their mid thirties to late fifties in age. She was practically dating people her father's age. And to make things worse, everything was driven by money. Discussions about these people on a personal level often boiled down to how much they can make and how much they're currently worth. If she wanted to know all this information she could simply open up her stocks app to see for herself. It was always numbers. Never anything else.

"Good evening, sir! Your usual seat?" the cashier greeted.

Apparently someone else was here. The bar was empty anyways. As long as they didn't sit next to her she would be fine-

The person sat next to her.

Well, not exactly next to her. Rather they sat back to back on opposing lounge chairs.

He was grumbling about something. Eve tried to focus on the matters at hand but the person sitting behind her just kept on muttering to himself. It was a combination of humming and nervous mumbling. She could get up and move but that would mean giving up her view of the city for one of the corner seats.

Curiously, she glanced over at the man. He was young. She could tell by the youthful glow in his skin and the smell of cologne wafting from him. He had medium blonde hair and was dressed to impress with a rather expensive looking coat and shoes.

He was scribbling something on a notepad and from where she was sitting she had a perfect angle to look and see what was written on it. Naturally she did and she read over what looked like a list divided into two columns titled "What worked" and "What didn't work".

A number of bullet points were listed on each column and a few caught her eye as she read down the list. "Complimenting" was listed on the "What worked" side as well as "Talking about her".

"Staring at her breasts" was underlined a few times on the "What didn't work" section along with "Texting during the movie".

These were all basic rules for human interaction. Pretty much common knowledge for anyone. Why was this person making a list of them?

"Eve…?" the young man said.

It was only then that Eve realized the young man had noticed she was staring. And only then did she realize who this person was.

"Mr. Seiker?"

* * *

Eve became a frequent visitor of the Hi, Life! Bar on Fridays. Though it was out of the way between work and home, she enjoyed the added sense of class it had compared to other pubs. The atmosphere drove away most of the more rowdy bar hoppers and the beautiful view it offered of the city allowed her to look back and reflect on her life so far.

Of course, she couldn't forget her main reason for coming in the first place.

"So have you amended your mistakes with that foreigner?" Eve asked as she sipped on her cocktail.

"With Rena?" Chung asked. He shrugged, "I think she's back at her home country."

"Then why are you dressed up?" Eve pointed out how neatly combed his hair was. It was already well past nine in the evening and his hair was normally in some state of disorder after a long day of work. This time, however, it was neatly slicked back, as if he had just come out of the shower. He also smelled like Burberry today, one of the more subtle fragrances that he wore that didn't overpower Eve's nose.

Her old classmate frequently stopped by this bar at the end of the week, as well. It was good catching up with him and he always had an interesting story to tell every time they met.

Chung had started dating. Though she was happy to see that he was keeping himself busy, Eve couldn't help but feel a little pang in her chest when he spoke of other women. Was it jealousy? Maybe. Eve was mature enough to acknowledge that she had developed a crush on him during their time together in college. But she figured that what she was feeling was more akin to envy.

Ever since her father's refusal to make her the heir of Altera, and her sole purpose had been reduced to child bearer for the company's future leaders, all Eve could think about was finding someone worthy for her hand in marriage. Listening to Chung's trials and failures resonated with her in a strange way. Where she had the opportunity to choose her suitors, she had a window to the other side… where someone had to jump through hoops just to get the attention of others.

It was… entertaining. Not that she reveled in Chung's failure, no-but his presence helped her forget her own responsibilities when alcohol could not.

"I just got back from another date," Chung declared, rather proud of himself.

Eve cocked a brow, "Oh? And how did that go?"

"We share a lot of the same interests."

"Ah. Good for you," Eve replied, returning her attention to her drink.

"Yes!" the young man exclaimed, "I asked her out on a second date. She said sure!"

"See? I knew you could do it."

"It's all thanks to you!"

Eve blinked. "Me?"

"Yeah. You told me not to go overboard in complementing their looks."

"It makes a woman feel self-conscious," Eve nodded absent-mindedly.

"And I didn't stare at her breasts!"

Eve nearly spat out her drink as she withheld a giggle. He was so stupid. It was an innocent kind of stupid, though… the endearing kind. It was the kind she couldn't help but feel inclined to nurture.

The state she found him in when she first came to Hi, Life! was pitiful, to say the least. He was like a lost puppy unable to make any sense of his surroundings. He looked up to her in that sense, giving him insight into the "woman's mind". In reality, it was just common social cues he hadn't quite learned to pick up on yet.

Eve knew him to be a shut-in when they first met. From the snippets of conversation they had at the university, she learned that his illness had kept him largely indoors and alone for most of his childhood. He had said that the transition to college life was like ripping away a curtain and blinding him with sunlight.

Still, it was nice feeling like she mattered to someone; like she was his personal guide into this new found world. She wondered if that was what he really thought of her. Did he see her as some sort of mentor? Maybe… even a close friend?

Chung pursed his lips at her, noting how she was trying not to laugh. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Eve cleared her throat.

"You gotta cut me some slack, Eve. I'm doing the best I can."

"I know you are."

"How about we make it into a competition?"

"What do you mean?"

"The first to get into a relationship wins."

That caught Eve's attention. Always one to prove herself better than the rest, she wasn't the type to turn down a challenge.

"Sure. I'm game."

"You have it easy, though."

Eve paused, mid sip. "Do I?"

"I heard men from all over the world are asking to marry you."

"Ah… yes. They are." Except none of them were people she was actually wanted to date-much less marry. She may have the freedom of choice but she didn't like any of them. Opting to omit mentioning her predicament on the matter, she merely left it at that.

Chung leaned on the back of his seat, resting his chin on his hand, "Any catch your interest?"

"I have standards," Eve turned her head away with an upturned nose, "None of these suitors meet them."

"And what are those standards?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Eve said.

"You're being mean."

"The correct word is reserved," Eve replied, "How about you? What are your standards?"

She didn't tell him, but in all honesty, she didn't know how to answer. What were her standards? She didn't know what she preferred in a partner. Did she like them taller than her? What kind of person did she even consider "dating" material? In truth, to her, she could care less about those minor details. She was looking for something else… But she didn't know how to explain it.

"It doesn't really matter," Chung shrugged, "As long as I feel loved."

That was corny. Very corny.

Eve disliked how he said it. She disliked herself even more for resonating so much with that statement. She didn't comment on that and simply poured herself another cocktail.

* * *

"Your grandfather is losing patience with us," her father's words repeated over and over in her head, "We only have a month left and one last suitor on the list. I tried to give you time, Eve. But your time is up. You have no choice on the matter, anymore."

"Yes, father," she had said to him. What else could she have said? That she wanted more time? That maybe, for once in her life, she'd be given the chance to decide her own future? No. Not to her father. And definitely not to her grandfather. To go against her elder's wishes would bring shame and disappointment to the company name.

She only had one month to go. After wasting half a year playing the role of attentive daughter, the urge to simply abandon her responsibilities for her own personal freedom could never have been stronger.

Whoever was next in line was her guaranteed suitor. There was nothing she could do to escape it, now.

Maybe… she should just take a break from all of this-at least long enough to experience what a relationship built on something more than material wealth would feel like. For just one month… she wanted to feel loved.

But with who?

Her eyes flicked to a slightly inebriated young man as he shuffled out of the restrooms and made his way back to his favorite seat.

Chung could work. He was inexperienced, sure, but there was a sense of purity in the son of Hamel that she found quite endearing. He was awkward when he was nervous and seemed more self-conscious when it came to speaking to women, but Eve knew what she saw a couple years ago when he stood in front of a classroom trying his best to give his best sales pitch. He was pleasant to talk to and being around him helped her forget her responsibilities. Once he was able to relax and act naturally, he can certainly brighten up a room. And that smile…

Why not? It may be the alcohol on her system clouding her judgement, but if she had to choose someone to date: Chung would easily be her first choice. But how was she going to ask him out?

"Mr. Seiker?" Her words came out slightly slurred. She was going for seductive and sultry and she mentally beat herself up for fumbling her initiation.

"Yes, Ms. Nasod?"

"Sit. I have something to discuss with you."

Here goes nothing. Just tell him she was interested in dating him.

* * *

Eve sat alone in the empty subway car. A single plastic shopping bag sat beside her. The first date was rough. But she didn't have the heart to tell him.

During the first hour of being around him, Eve quickly saw why other women didn't want to continue dating him. To say she was nervous would be drastic understatement, but any nervousness was quickly washed away when she saw, firsthand, how Chung was in his dates. He was terrible with eye contact. He didn't look at her. Rather, he looked through her. His dialogue felt rehearsed and his movement seemed too stiff to be natural.

She hated it even more when she realized this was how she looked when giving her presentation two years ago.

It wasn't until after Eve tore up his stupid little booklet and forced Chung to breathe and relax did she finally see the man she was trying to date-er, assess.

Eve still couldn't believe she chickened out at the last minute and pretended that this was some kind of test for the young man. Now she had to play along with this silly game.

To make things worse… she had cramps. Really bad ones. He had loosened up, somewhat, after the talk but not quite enough for Eve to really enjoy especially with her body trying to kill itself despite the pain relievers she had been popping the whole day.

Still, there was a plus side to their little date. She dug through her bag and pulled out a large bar of chocolate that Chung had thoughtfully bought for her while she wasn't looking. She unwrapped the candy bar and bit into it, sighing as she tried to pull her focus away from her cramps and focus on the sugary goodness.

It was sweet-both the candy bar and what Chung did for her.

This was the nicest thing someone has done for her in a long time. Whether it was an exaggeration or not, she didn't know. But what she did know was that she was crying. She hated these mood swings. Normally she would never get sentimental over chocolate and kindness but it just tasted so good.

The gift was simple and, in all honesty, a little embarrassing knowing Chung figured out it was that time of the month for her… but it was a gift nonetheless. And it was a lot more thoughtful than any courtesy gift her suitors had ever gotten her. She didn't mind this level of consideration. Especially from her boyfriend.

Should she officially call him that? Eve wiped away her tears as she rolled the idea around in her head.

It'd be a stretch at this point in time, but it wasn't like she thought it was an impossibility.

Maybe she'll keep this game going after all.

* * *

Throwing the book away was probably the best thing Eve could have ever done for Chung. He responded to her how he thought would be appropriate without having to refer to his guidelines. He even texted her the following evening after their date because he just wanted to talk to her.

It felt good knowing she was the highlight to someone's day.

Naturally she had texted back and they spent a good portion of the week exchanging pleasantries just for the sake of talking to one another. It was nice, but she could tell Chung was afraid of pushing things further. Could she blame him, though? She knew, in great detail, of his past failures in courting women. His tentativeness was a result of it. But given her limited freedom, Eve wasn't satisfied with small talk about the weather and how her workday has been. She wanted more.

Eve had watched a movie with him. Well, in its most basic definition she watched a movie with him. It was actually just them watching a movie at the same time in the safety of their own homes, all while texting each other reactions as things happened.

It was fun. They did it a few more times over the week and Eve was honestly content with what she had then. It wasn't too intrusive, she felt, and it gave her something to look forward to at the end of the day. Chung reciprocated her attention in kind and Eve knew that she was beginning to like him. A lot. He was her escape, after all. She wanted attention and Chung was there to provide it.

So when he suddenly started talking to her less, she was quick to pick it up. The lack of responses on his end was frightening to her. She didn't know if it was work related, if she did anything wrong, or if he found someone else to give his attention to. She wanted to ask him what was wrong but… she was afraid of his answer.

And then things only got worse. On Friday her father brought her the bad news: her next suitor was arriving early the following day.

His name was Edward Grenore, a young European man roughly her age. When asked why he was coming so early her father told her that he wanted to determine the locational advantages of partnering with Altera "before agreeing to the contract". Emphasis on contract. Did the concept of marriage even cross their minds at this point?

Eve didn't want to deal with it-not while she still had a month to go. She wasn't going to let some stranger take away what little freedom she had left.

And so she found herself standing in front of Chung's apartment. At least she hoped it was Chung's apartment. She had to do a little digging on her end and her investigation led her to a rather tall apartment complex close to the bay. Based on his lack of a response when she let him know, he was either ignoring her or he was tidying his place up.

Banking on the latter, she texted again.

"_I don't mind if your place is a mess. I know I came unannounced."_

"_No! It's fine! I'm on the top floor. Room 1007."_

His reply was quick. He wasn't ignoring her. That was a relief.

As she crossed the street and entered through the glass door, she was greeted by the crackle of traditional music playing on an old radio.

An old lady that stood no taller than Eve's shoulders shuffled about, sweeping the tile with a worn broom and dust pan. She was humming along with the music when she turned her attention to Eve, standing at the doorway.

The ajumma gave Eve a slow, appraising, look before speaking. "Can I help you, young lady?"

Eve bowed, "I'm here to visit someone."

"It's awfully early on the weekend. Who are you coming to see?" The old lady looked frail with the way her whole body swayed as she spoke.

"His name is Chung Seiker, ma'am," Eve said, resting her sunglasses on her head.

"Chung? Ah. He most definitely wouldn't be awake at this time. He often likes to sleep in during the weekends." Putting the broom and dustpan away, the old lady motioned Eve to follow her to the elevators. They both stepped into the elevator and the ajumma pushed the button for the tenth floor.

"I didn't know that…"

"Oh, it's fine. The young boy could do more if he woke up earlier in the day," the old lady chuckled. As the elevator ascended the shaft, Eve could feel her companion eyeing her from top to bottom. "This is the first time I've seen you, I think. Are you a friend of Chung's?"

"I'm his girlfriend." She said it. The words left her lips so easily that it took her a moment to notice the butterflies in her stomach. She felt so giddy from those three words that she wanted to say it again just so she can listen to it herself.

"Oh?" the ajumma looked rather surprised by this and Eve was equally so when the old lady took her by her hand, squeezing it gently as the elevator reached the tenth floor. "I had no idea. It's good to hear that he finally found someone."

Eve smiled at the old lady. "I'm lucky to have found him," she said. She meant it, too. Chung was her escape. He was there to talk to during those lonely nights at the Hi, Life! bar and she was more than happy to listen to him to help her forget about her own troubles. It may have been a little bumpy when they started this game but as time went on, Eve had grown to really appreciate who he was as a person. A little love and attention was all she wanted and Chung was always there to provide it. She truly was lucky to have found him. She just wished there was a way to show it.

* * *

"Ah, Eve, there you are," her father said, just as Eve entered the Nasod family estate. His attention quickly left his daughter, however, as he tended to a guest Eve had never seen before. He was a foreigner; a young man that stood just a touch taller than her. He had medium-length white hair pulled into a tiny ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was dressed in a pristine white suit with an indigo dress shirt underneath. He was handsome, she'll give him that, but as Eve entered the grand entrance hall of her estate, he set his gaze on her with sharp, purple eyes that left Eve feeling like he was looking down at her.

"Eve," Adrian began, "This is Edward Grenore. Your suitor. Edward? This is my daughter: Eve."

She approached the two men and she bowed deeply to the young man who stood there, like most foreigners did, not bowing in return.

"As you know, I've already given you her contact details and I've given Eve yours."

"I gave the number a ring earlier in the day. No one answered," Edward said, his gaze never leaving the young woman.

"I had business to attend to," Eve replied, noting how his attention fell on the rain-soaked bag at her side. She hid her belongings from view, tucking the bag tightly under her arm. His eyes narrowed.

"Eve is a busy woman," Adrian agreed with a doting nod, "You'll find that to be one of her many strengths. She's never one to settle down-always looking forward for her next opportunity."

"And this is the one I'll be marrying then?" Edward asked.

"That's correct. I suppose I'll be letting you two at least introduce yourselves properly. Eve? Why don't you show Edward to his room in the east wing? I've had Ophelia prepare the room for his arrival."

"Yes, father," Eve said, turning on her heel to lead him down the specified hall. She didn't motion for Edward to follow her and simply intended to leave him in the dust if he didn't hurry.

He was following her. At least she didn't have to talk to him. As long as he stayed silent then she wouldn't have to deal-

"You smell like the ocean," Edward said as he caught up with her.

"My business was at Haeundae beach," Eve replied quickly, not even looking at the young man.

"I can tell with the black swimsuit in your bag."

Eve didn't respond. Edward continued.

"It's strange, lying in front of your father like that."

"I wasn't lying to him," Eve defended.

"Then I don't see why you'd be keeping a weekend trip to the beach a secret."

Again no answer as they passed the large drenched windows of the east wing.

"Unless there's something you'd rather not tell him?"

Eve stopped at the guest room door, spinning around to the foreigner. "What I do is my business, Mr. Grenore."

"Please, call me 'Add', Eve. We're to be wed, afterall," he said with a light chuckle. He drew closer to her, prompting her to take one step back.

"And because you and I are getting hitched it's my duty to maintain a watchful eye on you and make sure you stay in line," Edward smiled at her, reaching forward and taking her hand in his. He brought it to his lips.

Eve ripped her hand from his grasp and slapped him hard across the face, enough to nearly cause him to topple over.

"Mr. Grenore, whether or not I'm to abide by your sick definition of betrothed, we are not yet married and this is my estate you're staying in," she seethed, "You will respect me as your hostess and you are not to touch me. Ever."

"My, my… you're a feisty one," Edward rubbed the reddening mark on the side of his face, a wicked smile crossed his lips, "I'd be careful if I were you, though. I'm more than capable of showing you the… proper respect you deserve."

Edward's hand clenched tightly into a fist. Eve took another step back and gave him a wide berth as she strode past him back to the main hall. He didn't make a move for her but the threat of it happening was palpable. Eve hurried to her room. She had to get the smell of salt water out of her hair… and stay as far away from that man as possible.

* * *

The next few days were probably the most stressed Eve had ever been. Adrian had given the two ample opportunity to get to know each other over the weekend and Eve found out, early on, just what kind of monster her suitor was: Edward was a control freak.

As much as he tried to hide it when her father was around, whenever Eve found herself alone with him, his true colors bled through.

Edward had a habit of gouging out details about Eve's daily agenda. He inspected her belongings as if they were his. He was always asking where she was and what she was doing. He didn't ask for things. He demanded. If things didn't go his way, Eve and her servants had to bend over backwards to make it so. He was rude, ungrateful, and was very much willing to use what he can against anyone who opposed him. Even towards Eve.

He made it abundantly clear that he wanted to sleep with her.

When Eve denied him that privilege he threatened to tell her father what she had been up to that day at the beach. He told her he had been scouring her company's data cache and found a peculiar string of texts between her and someone named "Chung". It took everything in Eve's willpower not to wring him by the neck where he stood.

But she was above that. She was above his threats.

"Go ahead," she had told him, "Tell him I'm seeing someone else. Tell him I've disobeyed him and my grandfather's wishes. I'd rather be a disappointment to them than spend a lifetime with you!"

That shut him up… at least for that day. Yet despite her words, the hunger in his eyes never left him. She had never been more afraid of anyone, since.

He told her father the following day.

Never in her life had she seen her father so angry at her. It was late in the evening, when she was summoned. Even within the privacy of her father's chambers, Eve was sure the entire estate could hear him scream at her. Edward didn't give a name, made apparent by the way her father asked who it was. But that didn't stop Adrian from going on a tirade about chastity before marriage. He threatened to disown her, saying she was making a fool out of their family in front of their guests.

Eve lashed back.

She criticized her father and grandfather. She abhorred the idea that she was simply an object used to bear children. She loathed this system set up by her family and demanded that her father allow her the freedom to run the company on her own terms.

Adrian did not take that well.

Wanting to distance herself from her home until things cooled down, she left before the sun even rose the following Saturday morning.

And that was how she found herself in Chung's apartment. Remembering he gave her his door code the previous week, she took the opportunity to sort her thoughts there, within the safety of his hospitality.

Chung helped her forget about the troubles in her home. Though getting beaten to a pulp in the fighting game she asked to play with him made her more frustrated than anything else. Still, it helped her calm her nerves from last night's argument.

In truth, she just wanted to be near him. He cared for her in a way no one else had. She saw it in his actions, the way he talked… and the way he kissed back at the beach. It had been an unexpected confession from both parties, yet it still caused her heart to thump knowing Chung admitted it first. She was so happy yet so sad when he confessed to her that she didn't know what else to do. So she kissed him.

Yes, Eve was aware of the hole she was digging herself when she decided to kiss him. Yes, she knew of the boundaries she was crossing by doing this on a "time out"... but he just looked so upset and distracted at the time. And, in a more primal way, she couldn't resist his little pout while he was dressed in nothing but a bathing suit.

Her phone vibrated on the coffee table for the umpteenth time, again. In that brief moment, ignoring the unusually high notification counter on display, she saw that it was almost noon.

"Oh… It's almost lunch time," she noted. Her father was probably wondering where she was… as well as that other man. As angry as she was at both of them, she didn't want her father to worry. She had never stood up to her father like that. All her life she had learned never to speak up against him. Although she didn't outwardly express it, she was frightened of the repercussions of her actions. She needed to mend things with her father. He was family, after all.

"Is it really…?" Chung glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

"I lost track of time," she said. She looked over the notifications and noted most of them were from her father. The most recent seemed to be a wall-sized text beginning with the phrase: 'I'm sorry'.

Her father was apologizing? After what she said to him?

She skimmed over another message and it seemed he wanted to make amends with her.

Relief quickly washed over her and, for the first time in a long time, she was looking forward to going home.

"I suppose you want me to cook something for you, then?" Chung asked.

Eve blinked, remembering that she asked him to cook for her today. She had completely forgot! But this was a chance to talk to her father. She couldn't waste it now.

She looked at him, apologetically. "It might have to wait until tomorrow."

* * *

The black limousine crept along the street amidst the heavy traffic of the midday weekend rush. This was one of the many reasons why Eve insisted she guide Mr. Grenore through the subway instead. Unfortunately taking the subway was considered below Edward's sense of class and, as expected, he demanded they ride the limousine. Eve, begrudgingly, had to work with the cards she was dealt. Although Eve amended with her father who expressed sympathy about her situation, it did little to deter her grandfather's opinion on the matter.

She was to marry Edward and her grandfather wasn't going to take no for an answer. Afterwards, in an attempt to bring his granddaughter and her future husband together in harmony, Eve was given the exhilarating task of directly building relations with Mr. Grenore, a task Eve could not be more loathe to do. With preparations for their marriage already set in motion, all that was left was to work out a contract and familiarize Edward with their fair city. This meant orienting him with korean culture and the finer points of the city's assets.

"This is Haeundae beach. As you know this is one of the more popular locations for tourists in our city. Towards the eastern tip of the bay is the world-renowned fish market and towards the western end is the tourist center and Altera Tower. Is there any specific places you may be interested in visiting?" Eve said, putting on her best speaker's face on, despite being in close proximity to her future husband.

"Mhm," Edward mumbled. His eyes were glued to his phone as he texted what Eve could only assume was another overseas contact.

"Mr. Grenore?" Eve cleared her throat, garnering a moment of his attention, all while withholding the urge to drop the tour-guide act.

He looked up from his phone, a disinterested frown forming in his lips. "What?"

"Is there any other location you'd be interested in visiting?"

Edward waved dismissively, "Wherever."

This was one of the few times he bothered to look up from his phone. He had been glued to it since the start of the drive. After a short confirmation from his fiancee, he was back on his phone, texting once more. He was smiling at something. Not that Eve cared for what it was, she just wished she was anywhere else but here.

"Oberon? To the expo center, please," Eve said, getting a nod from her driver. She sighed. With Oberon around, Edward was far less likely to make a move on her. But that didn't stop him from trying outright. Earlier that morning while they were with her father, Edward was always quick to force her arm around his-causing her to feel sick in the stomach every time she drew close. And to make things worse: she had a horrible hangover.

That part was her fault, however. She knew she was going overboard when she made turned that fighting game into a drinking game with Chung. But with everything that was happening to her, she just wanted to enjoy her time with her boyfriend.

Her thoughts drifted to the previous night. It was the second time Chung had allowed her to stay and she was grateful for it… especially after how drunk she was. She remembered laying in his bed, the ceiling spinning in circles above her. She remembered his scent in the sheets and wrapping herself so tightly in them in an attempt to get as much of him around her as possible… She remembered that he slept in his underwear.

Eve idly unlocked her phone and stared at her background image. Taken not to far away from where the limousine passed, it was an image of Chung lost in thought, staring out into the deep blue sea while waiting for Eve to get changed. She had snuck a picture of him from far away and enjoyed the aesthetic of a single person watching the distant horizon.

She missed him and wished he would text her… but she specifically told him not to. She had, afterall, set a picture of him post-workout as his ID photo and there would be problems, especially if a certain someone caught a glimpse of the son of Hamel on her display. The idea of setting his ID photo to something inconspicuous, like a monster truck, had crossed her mind. But after he sent her his picture, she just couldn't resist.

The sound of a camera shutter caught her attention and Eve looked up from her phone to see her guest snapping a picture of her.

"What are you doing?" Eve asked. Since they sat across from one another, she instinctively crossed her legs and fixed the hem of her skirt.

"Taking a picture of my lovely future wife," Edward said. "You don't mind, do you?"

The way he asked it wasn't like a normal question. It was a challenge. With the way his phone had been pointed at her lower half, she had every right to protest.

She opened her mouth to speak but Edward spoke over her.

"That's what I thought."

She scowled at him, earning her a wave of his finger.

"Eve, please. I prefer it when you smile. We are supposed to deepen our relationship, afterall, not burn it. Think of how upset your father would be."

She didn't want to be reminded. That sinking feeling in her gut only grew worse with the way he stared daggers back at her. It felt suffocating; as if a mere glance was capable of strangling the life out of her.

Eve looked away, glancing at her phone and hoping somehow that it was magically Monday afternoon so she could see Chung, again.

It wasn't even lunch time yet.

* * *

Eve sat at the foot of Chung's bed, quietly buttoning up her work blouse and straightening her hair. The sun had yet to rise at this hour and her boyfriend-er, business rival-was, thankfully, a hard sleeper. It would have made saying goodbye so much more difficult if he was awake to see her leave. She stood, quietly padding her way to the living room and shutting the door to Chung's bedroom… but not before stealing one last glance of him as he lay dreaming.

Eve sat at the coffee table where Chung had prepared their last dinner together, sighing as she extracted a comb from her bag and ran it through the knots in her long, silver hair. The entire time she scolded herself for last night. What was she thinking going that far with him? Eve knew it was their final night as a couple and she told herself well before she arrived at his apartment that, no matter what happens, she'll end the relationship then and there. As soon as the alarm went off, she'd cut all ties with Chung and everything would return to normal. It was for the best, afterall. Her company's future depended on her obedience.

But then Chung got her that stupid gift-

Eve picked up the small box sitting on the coffee table. She opened it, admiring the tiny ring that stared back at her. She plucked the metal band and slid it onto her ring finger. As expected, it didn't fit… but it was close. It was about two sizes too big.

It wasn't stupid. It was meaningful. It was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever done for her and it made saying goodbye to his face impossible.

And then he asked about Edward.

Eve told him. Chung deserved to know. After keeping him in the dark about all of this, it was the least she could do. In those brief moments of her spilling all her secrets, she hoped it would spur Chung to dislike her. She hoped that maybe he'd start to hate her for keeping those secrets from him. She wanted to make the break up easier for the both of them. She wanted to tell him that, yes, she had a fiance and she was going to stay with him rather than with Chung… But she kept talking.

She kept blabbering on about her stupid family tradition and how unfair she had been to him. Despite wanting to paint that picture of her leaving Chung, Eve couldn't help but try to justify her actions. She couldn't bring herself to be hated by him. Hurting him like this broke her heart.

She loved him too much.

And then her alarm went off. Literally a fraction of a second before confessing her true feelings for him… reality reared its ugly head and she was reminded, one final time, that this relationship was never meant to be.

A silent disappearance into the night. This was the best option.

Eve set the ring aside. She extracted a pen and notepad paper from her bag and began to scribble her thoughts onto it. This farewell would have to do. Saying it to him face to face was impossible for her at this point.

Everything was set. She stood and made her way to the exit, pausing one last time at his bedroom door. She wanted to open it… to lie in bed with him until the morning came. But she couldn't. She would only prolong the inevitable.

Eve sat at the entrance, pulling on her stockings and only now just remembering how badly torn they were.

Great.

She couldn't go to work like this. Eve pulled off her ripped hosiery, and mentally added two items to her shopping list before work:

Stockings and birth control.

* * *

Aisha brought a handkerchief to her eyes. "That's so unfair, Chung."

"No… it's fair," Chung said, "We agreed to a month-long relationship. That month is over and we had to go our separate ways."

"But neither of you wanted it to be over," Elsword argued.

"It's not a matter of wanting something to happen, Els," Chung shook his head, "Eve is the daughter of Altera. Her family's company is her responsibility. I understand how she feels having that much weight resting on her shoulders. You take what's necessary and leave the rest behind. I'm not necessary in her life… so it's natural that I'd be cut out of it. That's just the reality of our situation, and I'm not going to force her to think otherwise."

Elsword didn't look too happy about that. Chung expected that much. Elsword was a passionate person who often ignored reason for the sake of spirit. That was the hard truth of the matter, though, and there was no way around it. Yes, Chung missed Eve dearly, but he wasn't going to jeopardize her family's business over a summer fling.

"I find that hard to believe," Elsword muttered.

Chung simply shrugged, "Whether or not you believe me isn't going to make a difference. There's nothing I can do and I've accepted that."

"If that's true, then why are you still here?"

"What…?"

Elsword motioned at his surroundings, "I know you, Chung. You like to stop at the Hi, Life! bar on Fridays. It's Monday and you're carrying around a voucher Eve gave you. If you're really not trying to push things further… why are you coming here every night?"

"I'm… I'm not coming here every night," Chung stated.

"That's not what the cashier girl said," Elsword motioned at the woman standing at the entrance. It appeared she had been listening and she quietly dipped her head, pretending to stare at her phone screen. Elsword asked once more, "Why are you coming here every night?"

Chung couldn't look into his friends eyes. Elsword was backing Chung into a corner at this point. "I just want to talk to her."

"What are you hoping to say?"

Chung shook his head. He didn't know. He just wanted his free drink. That was all. He spent days coming here… because Eve owed him a free drink… that was all.

Aisha gently touched his shoulder.

"You should chase after her," she urged.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I just can't."

"Well why the hell not?" Elsword asked, taking a long swig of his beer, "If I were you, I'd storm up Altera Tower, burst right into their main office or whatever, and demand my girlfriend's hand in marriage!"

"Elsword…" Aisha whispered, clutching her beer bottle tightly in her hand.

Chung looked up at his friend, an exhausted look of hopelessness in his eyes. "You sound like a protagonist to a movie or something."

"You think so?" his friend laughed, he glanced at Aisha and noticed she was staring, "I mean I would since… you know, I love her so much."

"Oh, Elsword…!"

Chung rolled his eyes, an audible sound of disgust escaping his lips.

"No, but seriously, you totally should do that."

"I'm not going to walk into Altera Tower and ask Eve to marry me," Chung said.

"Why not?" Aisha asked, still starry eyed from her daydream.

"It's… just not that simple."

"It is that simple. You're overthinking it, Chung," Elsword said.

"It isn't. I mean… marriage? Her? Marrying me? We've only seen each other for a month."

"Then ask her to date you, again," Elsword said.

"I… I don't know, you guys…"

Aisha leaned over the backrest of Eve's seat. "You love her, don't you?"

Chung looked from Aisha to Elsword before hanging his head and nodding.

"And she loves you back, right?"

The question was easy to answer. He understood why she left him and he knew the feelings she felt towards him were genuine. He saw it in the way she spoke to him, the way she visibly relaxed when she was around him. He saw it in her eyes, in her smile, and in the way she sought him for comfort when she was upset. She saw how torn she was about all of this and how desperately she clung on to him down to the last fleeting moments before they had to part.

Yes, she loved him.

"Do you want to be with her?" Elsword asked.

Chung, defeated, nodded his head.

"So what's holding you back?"

Suddenly Chung rose from his seat, startling Aisha as the young man finished his beer and put his work coat back on.

"I'm done here, guys. I'm going home," Chung stated.

He reached into his front pocket and pulled out the I. O. U. and flicked it towards Elsword without even looking.

"You said you'd pay for it, right?" Chung said, his voice cold and stern.

"Y-yeah," Elsword caught the card, bewildered by his friend's sudden decision to leave and he waved at the cashier, signalling that he was picking up Chung's tab, "We gonna hang out sometime soon?"

"Not sure," Chung answered, not even looking back at his friend.

"Alright then," Elsword responded, forcing a smile, "Catch ya later!"

* * *

They both gave him about a good five minutes to make sure Chung wasn't coming back before Aisha finally let out an exasperated sigh.

"Well that went well," she said sarcastically to her boyfriend who, oddly enough, had a triumphant grin on his face.

"Yep," Elsword replied, flopping backwards on the backrest and chugging the rest of his beer.

:"Do you think he's going to…?"

"Uh huh," Elsword nodded.

"What makes you so sure? I mean, if anything he looked more upset about us pushing him than anything else."

"Text his dad, will ya?"

Aisha frowned when her boyfriend dodged her question, but pulled out her phone anyways and began typing a message. "You know this will only really work if he actually does something."

"Having second thoughts when we're this deep into it?" Elsword cocked a brow at Aisha who frantically shook her head.

"No!"

"Might I remind you that YOU were the one that wanted to help him out in the first place."

Aisha paused in her text message, her shoulders dropping in guilt, "Well… After how our date went a few months back… I sort of felt bad about it all. And since he's your best friend and his dad asked you to follow him to the mall that one day... I thought, you know, we could maybe help him along with his next date."

"That's very kind of you," Elsword smiled at her.

"I just thought they looked cute together-"

"And we all know how you are with sappy romances," Elsword said with a roll of his eyes. Though he had to agree with her. He pulled out his phone, opening the saved image he took of Chung and Eve sitting together in the mall. "Still… I'm glad you decided to get his dad involved."

"All I did was ask him to 'pretend' he found a news article of Chung and a mystery date. Everything from that point on was his idea," Aisha stared at the completed text message, a finger hovering over the send key, "Which brings us back to the matter at hand: are you SURE Chung's not giving up on Eve?"

Elsword nodded, "You didn't see that fire in his eyes?"

Aisha sent the text, nodding along with her boyfriend. "I'm not too familiar with that look… but he definitely seemed like a different person from when I first met him… He wasn't the same stiff, awkward, guy who spews stupid pick up lines like a robot. He seemed… I don't know-"

"Scared?" Elsword asked, "Nervous? Like he's five seconds away from breaking?"

"I'm trying not to make him sound lame, Els…"

"That's who Chung really is, Aisha. He's shy, overly-anxious, and tends to overthink things. But despite all of that he stands his ground," Elsword leaned back in his chair, stretching as he stared at the ceiling, recalling dozens of fond childhood memories. "He may need a little push every now and then but it's ultimately his decision to act… and I know he will. His bravery stems from his fear of losing people he cares about. That's what makes him strong. That's why I know he hasn't given up on her. Not while there's still a chance to win her back."

* * *

Eve sat at one end of the business table. To her left, sitting at the head of the table, was her father, serving as a witness to their agreement along with the other leaders of the company. Edward sat across from her, smiling for the cameras bearing the 'Forbes Korea' magazine logo. After signing off the last of the dotted lines, he slid over the newest revision of the contract towards Eve.

"I'm happy to see you've finally accepted our agreement," Adrian said, nodding to Eve as she took a pen and read over the changes.

"And I'm happy to be accepted into your family," Edward said with a smile.

"Don't let it get to your head," Eve muttered, "You were our last choice, afterall."

The shutter clicks of cameras fell silent as Eve spoke, prompting Adrian to clear his throat and draw attention away from his daughter's comment.

"Eve," her father growled, causing the young woman to bite her tongue as she began signing her end of the agreement on her father's behalf.

"She's playing hard to get," Edward reassured the cameramen, "But that's what makes the relationship that much more interesting, right? I'm sure she'll come around eventually. You'll give me a chance, right, Eve?"

She didn't respond and quietly signed away her life, line by dotted line.

"Mr. Grenore," the reporter chimed in, "This wedding stated in the contract, when will it be?"

"I'd imagine a few months from now," Edward said with a shrug.

Adrian piped in, "We've only recently finalized this new contract but we would like to hold the official ceremony soon, considering my father's failing health."

"Any idea of where it would be?" the reporter asked, scribbling down a few notes.

"Ah, yes… I was thinking to have it at…"

Her father continued to lay out the details with the reporter and Edward. All the while, Eve continued to quietly sign her name line by line.

They never once asked Eve what she thought of all of this. Of course they wouldn't, though. Adrian was the CEO and Edward was the primary heir. Eve was just an accessory.

She finished with the signing and the camera shutters picked up once more as she slipped the documents into an envelope.

The crew as well as the other company leaders opened up in a small wave of applause The reporter chimed in, "And with that, Mr. Edward Grenore will officially be Altera's next heir at the end of the wedding ceremony. Any plans for the next coming year with Altera that you're willing to disclose for us, Mr. Grenore?"

He looked from camera to camera, beaming an uncharacteristically bright smile for all to see. "Raise a son, hopefully!"

The entire room cheered, leaving Eve to silently roll her eyes in disgust.

An attendant entered the room and made a beeline past the film crew and company's leaders, straight for Adrian. He leaned forward, whispering something in his ear as the rest of the room celebrated their newest addition to the Altera family.

"And you say it's urgent…?" Adrian whispered in a volume Eve could just barely pick up. The CEO stood from his seat and the rest of the room fell silent. "With our business concluded, I'd like to thank Mr. Edward Grenore for lending his support to our company. You are all dismissed for the day. As for myself, I have a client to speak to… Eve?"

"Yes, father?"

"You're free to take Mr. Grenore back to our estate."

Eve looked at Edward. This was the first day she would be alone with him at her house… and he was very much aware of it. "Yes, father…"

* * *

The cameras followed Edward and Eve out of Altera Tower. It was the end of the work day and they were trying to glean any further information about the future of the company under Edward's rule. The ride down the elevator and out of the main lobby was crowded. Even as they exited through the spinning front doors of the building, they were only greeted by even more cameras from other, smaller, publishers.

Eve kept to herself as the questions rolled in and would have attempted to make her way to the limousine had Edward not suddenly grabbed her by her arm. The hairs on her back stood on end as she was forced to stand by his side and it took everything in her power to resist the urge to outright slap the man in front of so many cameras.

Eve just wanted to go home.

She just wanted to shut everyone out… especially her future husband. She just wanted to lock herself in her room, let down her hair, and wait out the rest of the day. She just wanted to call Chung and ask him how his day went.

Her phone dinged.

Tucking the recently signed contract under her arm, she dug through her bag and glanced at the display.

It was an unknown number. Or at least to the phone it was unknown. Even though she deleted all traces of Chung on her phone, she still recognized the digits.

He had sent her a text message.

Her heart skipped a beat as the urge to cry seemed to stop itself at her throat. Eve glanced at Edward who was still in the middle of answering another question. Unlocking her phone, she did her best to subtly read over what she expected would be a wall of text. It wasn't. It was four words:

"_I'm here for you."_

Eve stared at the message as she processed its meaning before glancing up from her phone to scan the crowd.

There were dozens of faces gathered in a circle around Edward and Eve, but Chung clearly wasn't among them. She stood on her tiptoes, peeking over the wall of cameras and found a barricade had been set up to keep non-reporters from getting in the way.

And then she saw him. The unmistakable brown-tipped blond locks gave him away. He was standing in front of a security guard, phone in hand, waving frantically to grab Eve's attention. The guard clearly wasn't having any of it, however, as they appeared to be trying to keep him from making a scene.

Eve meekly waved back, getting that beautiful smile in return. She glanced at Edward for but half a second and hoped he hadn't noticed. He wasn't looking and appeared to be going on about his personal backstory. Without looking at her phone she typed a quick message back.

"_Why are you here? We're not allowed to see each other anymore."_

Eve saw Chung received his message and he stopped waving to reply. Her phone dinged and she opened the message:

"_Because you told me that couples are supposed to support each other through thick and thin. They are that person their partners confide in when no one else will do. I know that I'm breaking the rules to our game. I know that we're not supposed to see each other after our month together. But I found my special someone. And I'm not going to let some stupid rules keep me from being with that person. I love you, Eve. And I want you to know that no matter what happens, I'll be here to support you. All you have to do is let me."_

"... Of course, I was still undecided about the entire deal… but then I met the lovely daughter of Altera-" Edward turned his attention to Eve who, at that moment, had a hand over her mouth, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"Eve? What's wrong, my love?" Edward said through gritted teeth formed into a smile. His grip tightened around her wrist, shaking the contract envelope loose from under her arm and scattering the contents on the floor. A gust of wind blew over the crowd, carrying entire segments of the documents into the air and prompting many of nearby to catch it. Edward cursed under his breath, glaring angrily at Eve for her clumsiness.

The daughter of Altera took a step back from him. Fear filled her as her golden eyes met with his furious indigo. Eve was caught between wanting to pick up the scattered paperwork and outright running from him. Her eyes darted from paperwork to Edward and she noted the false smile slowly turn into a sneer. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what she should do.

And then a distant voice called for her. It was Chung's.

Edward and Eve turned to the source, pulling the attention of a few cameras towards the young man currently trying to push his way past the security guard.

"Eve!" Chung yelled, "Eve, you don't need to go through with this! You don't need to-"

The guard shoved him back as another moved in to restrain the young man.

"Who the hell is that guy?" Edward asked as several of the reporters hurried to his side with pieces of their contract in hand.

Despite two guards on him, Chung continued to wrestle his way past them. It wasn't until the whispers within the crowd reached Edward's ears did he realize who it was.

"Son of Hamel? That's Chung?" Edward laughed, garnering Eve's attention, "So that's the chump you've been talking to, huh? What does he hope to gain from making a fool of himself in front of Altera Tower? We've already signed the agreement. There's nothing he can do to-"

"Let him go!" Eve ordered. The guards hesitated for only a moment before continuing to restrain the young man. "I said let him go!"

This time they stopped and Chung shook them off his arms before straightening his dress shirt. Before the cameras could bring their focus back towards the couple standing at the top of the stairs, Eve was already pushing her way through the crowd.

"Chung!" she cried, her voice cracking as she broke past the line of reporters.

Confusion filled the air as Eve rushed to Chung, throwing herself into his arms in a tight embrace that immediately had all the camera shutters going off.

"Chung… I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry," she blubbered again and again as she held him, "I really didn't want to leave you. I didn't want to hurt you like that. I shouldn't have. I should have just-"

"It's okay, Eve. You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm here, now… it's okay," Chung cooed as the daughter of Altera wept on his shoulder.

"I don't want us to end…" she cried.

"I don't either…"

Eve heard footsteps as they drew closer. At the corner of her eye she saw Edward approaching the two, contract on hand.

"Give her to me," Edward ordered, reaching out to take Eve by her arm. Chung turned her away, shielding him from the foreigner.

"I don't think so," Chung said. Eve noticed the way Chung's voice trembled as he spoke. He was afraid. He never seemed like the type to take confrontations head on, yet here he was standing his ground.

"Give. Her. To. Me." Edward growled.

"Eve doesn't belong to you!" Chung fired back.

"She DOES," Edward said, waving the envelope in front of them, "She signed the contract. She is part of our trade agreement. She is MINE."

Eve snatched the envelope from his hand, stepping away from either of them. In one labored motion she tore the contract right down the middle, scattering it into the wind with a flick of her wrist.

"I don't care about the damned contract!" Eve said through teary eyes, "I don't care about the deal and I would rather do without you! You are not welcome in our company and you are not welcome in my home! So get out of my life!"

Edward stared in wide-eyed shock as the shredded document was whisked away by the breeze. His eyes homed in on the woman standing before him. Rage filled him as he took another step towards her.

Naturally she backed away. She had never seen him this angry before. In the half of a month she had been with Edward, she had only caught glimpses of this side of him. But she knew this part of him was always present. He was controlling, after all. He was demanding, and rude, and was never afraid of stepping on others for his personal gain. This side of him was always here… and it was the part of him she feared the most. So when she saw him raise a clenched fist towards her, she knew what she did would inevitably lead to this. Eve turned away, body bracing itself for the incoming blow.

Eve heard the strike land, but she didn't feel it. Peeking out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chung, standing where she had been. Eve gasped as Chung's entire body was leaning to one side. The strike to his jaw nearly knocked him off his feet.

"Chung!"

"I'm fine," Chung said to her, simultaneously winding up a swing that caught Edward off guard and struck flush with the foreigner's face. "And you must be Edward," Chung said, shaking the sting off his hand as he stood over him.

Edward was on the ground, completely unconscious and with a broken nose by the time Eve realized Chung's lip was bleeding.

"You're hurt…" Eve said, reaching over to wipe the blood rolling down his jaw.

"I'd be more concerned about him, honestly," Chung motioned at Eve's fiance. The sounds of camera shutters going off and the sight of security guards arriving at the scene prompted Eve to step in.

"It was self defense!" she said, setting herself between Chung and the security guards, "Edward struck him first! He was acting on self defense!"

The call to action pulled Eve back into the moment and the repercussions for what she just did came flooding back to her. But before panic could set in, Chung took her by the hand and lead her down the street, "C'mon. We need to go."

"W-where?"

"Anywhere. Just not here," he lead the way and Eve, more than happy to leave this place, followed. He hailed a passing taxi as the reporters threatened to cut off their escape for questioning. The taxi came to a halt in the middle of the street and the two fled the scene with camera flashes in their wake.

* * *

Every news station had one story on repeat the entire night. Strings of text scrolled past the screen as the recording from earlier that afternoon played over and over again in the news report. The messages ranged from excitement over the daughter of Altera eloping with the son of Hamel, to brutal reprimandation of Edward's actions.

Adrian sat at his desk, rubbing his beard in deep contemplation as he watched the scene play out once more. Edward's intent was clear. Even his daughter moved to defend herself. Had Chung not stepped in…

"Well?" Helputt said, his large frame causing his chair to creak as he readjusted himself, "Now imagine what your daughter would have to go through if she had to live with Edward for the rest of her life."

Adrian continued stroking his beard, his face stern with contempt.

Unsure about the silence, Helputt pressed further. "Would you want this man to be running your company?"

"Do you realize, Mr. Seiker," Adrian began, "If your son hadn't struck back, there would have been an even bigger legal issue against Altera."

"Erm… my son is normally a timid young man. I never would have expected him to hit back, honestly."

"But he did, Mr. Seiker."

Helputt grumbled, scratching his head as he worked out just how complicated Adrian was going to make things.

"And because your son retaliated to Edward's assault, how about we simply call things even and have Edward deported back to Europe."

"Mr. Nasod?"

"Altera doesn't condone Mr. Grenore's violent acts, especially towards key staff members… namely my daughter's," Adrian stared at the partially restored contract sitting at his desk. He remembered just how angry his daughter looked as she tore the document to shreds. "And I can't excuse my ignorance on the matter, either. I've been so focused on granting my father's wish that I was blinded to my own daughter's needs. I just don't know how I'm going to tell him that the entire business agreement has been called off…"

"So you ARE calling it off?" Helputt asked.

"Yes. And we're all going to start at square one, yet again," Adrian sighed, "I might have to get into contact with our previous suitors eventually."

"I have an idea."

"If you're proposing we merge our companies, I'll have you know that the benefits would be minimal-"

"No," Helputt interrupted, "I'm saying you should give your daughter the freedom to be with who she wants to be. Let her marry someone she chooses and let her lead the company when it's time for you to step down."

"Ridiculous," Adrian snorted, "Our tradition dictates that only a man can run Altera."

"Then take that step and break that tradition," Helputt urged, "I know how strong your daughter is as a leader. As your competitor, she scares me with the way she steals our investors. If I were you, she'd be my first candidate to inherit the company."

Adrian's eyes narrowed, "You're just saying that because that would put your son in a position to partially inherit the company."

Helputt raised his hands defensively, "I'm not going to deny the benefits of my son and your daughter getting together in the future. But if you want to play that angle, then I'll have you know that my son truly cares for your daughter. I've seen it in the way he tries to communicate with her without me knowing. I've seen him worry day in and day out about how to win her heart. My son's a good man, Mr. Nasod. I can guarantee that."

Adrian stared at his competitor for a long moment. He was weighing his options, calculating the risks versus the rewards as any member of the Nasod family often would.

And then, for the first time in Helputt's life, he saw Altera's CEO concede defeat.

"We'll see where this goes," Adrian said.

* * *

"Does it hurt?" Eve asked as she gently dabbed a cotton ball over the cut on Chung's lip.

They were sitting on his couch with an open first aid kit sitting on the coffee table. His cheek was starting to swell and a bruise had already set in.

"Nah, not at all," he stated. Though a painful wince on his end was all it took to prove otherwise.

Eve pouted and she reached for the ice pack and held it against his cheek. Chung took it off her hands and let her clean the rest of the kit off of the table. She huffed as she thought about the events earlier that evening. She didn't know what to do now. Everything was going wrong. She tore up the contract, Chung and Edward fought, and she directly disobeyed her father and grandfather's wishes. This wasn't supposed to happen… yet she was relieved that it did.

"Why did you come for me…?" Eve said, clutching the first aid bag in her hand, "I specifically told you not to contact me anymore… yet you came for me."

She felt his arm wrap over her shoulder, pulling her close. His touch was so different compared to Edwards. A chill ran up and down her spine, yes, but this was a sensation that she welcomed.

"Did you not want me to?" Chung whispered.

Eve set the bag aside, throwing her arms around him in while being careful not to hurt him anymore.

"I wanted you to. I really did. I just never thought it would happen. Things like that only happen in movies or fairy tales."

"And yet here we are," Chung said.

"Yes," Eve sighed, "Here we are… tending to your wounds and only hours away from being separated again because of my company's stupid rule…"

She held onto him tightly, savoring these precious few moments before reality would rear its ugly head once more and force them apart.

"Everyone knows about us, now Eve. Surely that would sway your father's opinion on the matter. And after the way Edward-"

"Don't say his name… please," Eve whispered. Just the mere utterance of that man's name was enough to cause her to tense up.

She felt his hand gently caress her back, slowly pushing away her fears as she eventually relaxed once more.

"It's alright, Eve. You're here, now. You're safe."

"What about my father…? What will he think?"

"I'll talk to him myself if I have to. We can do it… together."

"And if he forces us apart?"

"I won't let him do that, Eve."

She believed him. After what Chung had done for her today, Eve believed anything was possible.

"Thank you…"

In the end she was glad everything played out the way it did. In the back of her mind, Eve wondered what her life would have been like if she never asked him out in the first place. She never would have seen her loved one learn and grow along with her. She never would have felt what it was like to confide in someone when no one else would do. She never would have been anything more than an accessory to a man she didn't love.

Though it was a rollercoaster of trials and hardship, this past month gave her the opportunity to experience true love… and she was thankful to have found someone that gave her that chance.

And she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Eve?" Chung said after a while.

"Hm?" Eve tilted her head as she felt him nuzzle against her. His lips brushed against her ear as he whispered a single word.

"_Sarang-hae_."

Butterflies danced in her stomach once more. Her heart thumped and she couldn't help but bury her face against his collar. She gripped him tightly as she whispered what had been caught in her throat since the first night he let her stay over.

"_Sarang-hae_."

* * *

**A/N: So, first off I'd like to apologise to everyone. I lied. I know I marked the story as complete. It was a ruse to fool the person who requested this story. They wanted a happy, good feeling fluff and I thought it'd be good fun if I played a little joke and "ended" the story at chapter 4. After your responses, I'm glad to see that the original requester wasn't the only one that felt like they've been robbed of proper closure. Secondly, YES this IS the TRUE ending. This is how the story will end and there will absolutely, positively, be no other chapters added to it. Big thanks to Jeez#3849 from the elsword fanfiction discord for requesting this. It was a good break from heavy handed stories. As for those of you reading this story: thank you so much for the support and encouragement. I'm ecstatic to know you all like the idea of a modern love story. ****Cover done by Elpheart! Check them out here: **** w elpheart/**


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